Rebirth
by Jawelik
Summary: Almost a year after the events of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Shinra Inc is ready to rebuild. And their new General has just recruited two kids who have quite an adventure ahead of them. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. Chapter 17 is done!
1. Prologue

Rebirth: Prologue

by Jawelik

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Disclaimer: The Characters and concepts from Kim Possible and Final Fantasy VII are the property of Disney & Squaresoft respectively, and are all used here without their foreknowledge or consent. I am making no profit from this work, and am only doing it for the enjoyment of writing. Hope its an enjoyable read.

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Note: This story begins about a year after the Final Fantasy VII movie Advent Children. Though it isn't mandatory that you see the movie, you might want to play the game. Its old, no doubt, but I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it before, it is still one of my all time favorites. This is a Final Fantasy VII/Kim Possible Crossover, so if you're a KP fan, and you know the basic Final Fantasy VII story, you should be sweet. Please enjoy.

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It had been almost a year since Cloud's epic battle with Sephiroth. Almost a year since the debilitating disease known as the Stigma had been cured. And now, once again he found himself on his motor cycle, heading off to visit Rufus Shinra, at Reno's invitation. And just like last time, he had a very bad feeling about it.

After pulling up at his small house, which was out in the middle of nowhere, he climbed up a ramp to the front door. His hand was ready at the handle of his massive sword; like last time he was ready for an ambush. Unlike last time though, there was none. Sure Reno, the guy who'd attacked him last time, was there when he opened the door, but he didn't attack. He and Rude were silently standing guard on either side of a desk, and behind it sat a handsome blonde haired man in a white suit. Rufus Shinra.

"Cloud. Thank you for com..."

"What do you want?" he cut him off coldly.

Rufus smiled. "Straight to the point as usual, I see."

"With you, Rufus? Always. You have twenty seconds."

"Very well Cloud, then I'll save the pleasantries for later," he chuckled. "I have finally managed to reclaim most all of the assets I lost after Meteor hit. I am once again a very wealthy man."

Cloud scowled hatefully. "Congratulations. What does that have to do with me?"

"Using that fortune, I have taken steps to begin rebuilding my family's company. Shinra Inc."

His expression got considerably colder at that revelation. "I still fail to see what that has to do with..."

"I'm getting there Cloud. I told you last time you were here that it was largely the fault of my family and our company that the planet was in the sorry state it was in. That we had a lot to atone for. I plan to use my full resources, and the resources of Shinra Inc, to do just that. Atone. And I need your help."

"What makes you think I'd ever help rebuild..."

He raised a hand to interrupt, standing up from behind his desk. "Please, Cloud, just hear me out. The world has descended into anarchy. The strong are preying on the weak, with no one to stop them. I feel we need to once again form a military. To keep the peace. To restore order. And we need someone to lead that military. Someone strong and skilled, but also someone with a sense of honor and humility. Someone who will keep us from becoming corrupted from our own power again, someone who will keep us honest. We can't allow Shinra to become what it once was ever again. Shinra needs you Cloud."

"You have got to be kidding."

"I'm not just asking you to lead Shinra's army. I'm offering you a place on the board of directors. You will have a controlling share of the company. I of course will still be President, but not even I will be able to make decisions without the approval of the board. There will be no dictatorship this time."

Cloud paused and looked at the floor as he thought. "I... I don't like the sound of this, Rufus. Not at all. Rebuilding a company that did so much evil..."

"People tend to forget, Cloud, but we also did I share of good too. Remember, you never even would have had the chance to stop Sephiroth the first time, if we hadn't destroyed that energy dome protecting him. And I wish to do more Cloud, more for the good of the planet. Won't you help us?"

Cloud just glared coldly. "Pretty words, Shinra. But I know how charismatic you can be. I will not be manipulated."

"This is happening with, or without you Cloud," he said firmly. "I am rebuilding Shinra Inc. So I'm going to make the decision simple for you. Are you in or out?"

Cloud again lowered his eyes to think. He'd hated Shinra, hated all that they had done, all the evil they had created. The only reason Sephiroth even existed was because of them, could he really become part of it again? ... Then again... What would happen if he just left Rufus and his new company to their own devices? Wouldn't it be better to be on the inside, with some say in what happens?

He was silent for a few more minutes as he made a few decisions. "Reeve. He has to be on the board too."

Rufus nodded. "Of course."

"And the military will be under my full control? No military action will be taken without my approval?"

"You have my full confidence Cloud, the military branch of Shinra Inc is all yours."

He nodded slowly, and reluctantly made his decision. A decision he wasn't particularly sure about. "... Okay. I'm in."

Rufus smiled, with a slightly malevolent gleam in his eye. "Excellent! Welcome aboard... General."

xxxxx

Six Months Later...

Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable lived in a small town called Middleton, which was found in an out of the way spot a few thousand miles south east of Junon Harbour, near the mountains. There were two neighboring towns to the north and south, called Upperton and Lowerton respectively. And in all of these towns, that were aptly name the Tri-City, Kim Possible was quite the celebrity.

Over the years she had done all she could to help others, and had become one of the top three fighters in the whole Tri-City in doing so. She frequently went on missions slaying monsters, foiling bandits and criminals, even getting the occasional cat out of a tree. Ron Stoppable however wasn't quite as famous. He was the comedy relief, the bumbling sidekick Kim just couldn't do without. The boy who was always there, but rarely acknowledged.

The pair were currently in her attic bedroom in her parents house, climbing into their mission gear. Ron, who was always the perfect gentleman, kept his back to her while they changed. Both wore black boots and baggy grey pants, and Kim wore a tight fitting black crop top, while Ron's top was a tad looser. Kim attached her favored weapons to either side of her belt, two beautifully crafted, long bladed daggers. The metal was a shiny jade, and in truth they were more curved short swords than daggers. But that's what everyone called them.

Ron unable to gain access to the same custom gear as his best friend, made do with his late father's old sword. It was a simple Katana made of blue metal, his father had called the Lotus Blade. Not quite as nice as Kim's weapons, and Ron never had much of a talent for using it either. More often than not, his attempts to wield it resulted in him loosing his pants.

Today the two of them were investigating a desolate mountain range that was to the east of town. It was an ugly lifeless place, being close enough to Midgar to have the life energy drained out of it three years previous by the Mako reactors. Apparently a particularly nasty monster had appeared there, and now someone's kid had vanished. Kim naturally, being the girl to call in this kind of sitch, the girl who could do anything, was asked to check it out. And was also asked to find the missing child for her distraught parents.

As her and Ron descended the stairs to her garage they made idle conversation. "Hey KP, you hear that Shinra Inc has sent out summons to able warriors wanting to join their new army?"

"Yes Ron, everyone has heard," she said, smiling meanly.

"Great, as usual the Ron man is the last to know these things," he sighed. "Well... What do you think about it?"

She frowned and shrugged, as she stepped into her garage where her huge black motor cycle waited. "I dunno, I've heard so many horror stories about the bad things Shinra had done. On the other hand their new General is Cloud Strife, and he is the one doing the summoning."

Ron smiled evilly. "Yeah, you have a monster crush on him if I remember right."

This got the expected blush from Kim. "So not! He's just a role model for me, that's all. He did save the world like three times you know?"

"Yeah, how couldn't I know, with you always 'Cloud this,' and 'Cloud that! Cloud Cloud Cloud!'"

"Rooon!" she whined.

"All I know KP is that Sephiroth guy was just lucky you weren't there. 'Cause you'd have kicked his butt, then you'd be the one who was General of Shinra's army... Hmmm... General Kim Possible. Has a nice ring to it, no?"

She smiled now. "As sweet as that is Ron, that was more than three years ago. I doubt the almighty Sephiroth would have been trembling at the feet of a thirteen year old girl."

Both friends chuckled at that. "If I remember right, KP, you were quite the kick butt thirteen year old girl."

"Awww Ron, that's so sweet!" she cooed, as she climbed onto her bike and pulled on a helmet.

"Hey, I try. So what exactly do you think about this whole military thing? Gonna sign up? It really sounds like something you'd be good at. You know, beating bad guy biscuit? Keeping the peace?"

She frowned, and shook her head. "I don't think so Ron. I mean work for Shinra? Even if Cloud is their new General, I'm happy just helping people on my own terms for now."

Ron stopped, and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh..."

Kim caught his tone and turned to look at her best friend. "Ron? What did you do?"

"I... I kinda already signed up yesterday," he muttered, not making eye contact.

Her eyes widened with shock and sadness. "Ron! That means you have to go to the new Academy in Midgar! For a whole year! I can't go on missions without you, I'd miss you too much!"

Ron smiled nervously and looked to the floor, still scratching his head. "Heh. Actually no. You won't miss me."

She frowned. "What do you mean?" Her frown turned into a glare. "Ron Stoppable, what did you do?"

"Um... Well... Heh heh... I kinda signed up... for the both of us."

"RON!!"

xxxxx

To be Continued...

Okay, there's the prologue, what do you think? Please drop me a review, they are always appreciated. This is my shot at doing a KP fic that hasn't been done yet. And being as Final Fantasy VII is one of my all time favorite games, I figured this was a good place to start. I have a lot of ideas for this story, so be sure to leave me some thoughts on this. I would like to thank my brother for BETA reading this for me too. Thanks bro.

-Jawelik 


	2. Chapter 1

Rebirth: Part 1

by Jawelik

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Disclaimer: All the characters from Final Fantasy VII & Kim Possible are the property of Squaresoft & Disney respectively and are used here without their foreknowledge or consent. I am making no profit from this, and would ask these two wonderful, Kingdom Hearts creating companies not to sue me.

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Note: You might notice in some of the upcoming action, that I'm going to be using the Advent Children's 'laws of physics.' Which means Kim may be performing physical feats even more impressive than usual. Such as jumping to impossible heights, showing strength way beyond anything a normal human would be capable of. So just keep this in mind as you read.

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Ron was treated to the silent treatment by Kim for their whole journey to their mission in the mountains. She drove the massive black motor cycle and Ron rode on the back, with his arms around her waist. His few attempts to make conversation were blatantly ignored. That however, was only until Kim parked the bike at their destination, and they were walking up a mountain path. At this point the treatment got considerably less silent. As a matter of fact it got pretty loud.

"Ron! I can't believe you signed me up for Shinra's new army without even asking me! Don't you not comprehend how critically wrong that is?!"

Ron just smiled and raised his hands. "Come on Kim lets just stick to the facts. Fact one: You are signed up. Fact two: We'll be doing the exact same thing with Shinra as we are now, helping people! And getting paid to boot. Fact..."

"Fact three!" she cut in, threateningly shoving three fingers into his face. "I know sixteen styles of Kung Fu!"

Again he raised his hands, still smiling. "I think you need to take this misguided aggression you're feeling towards me, and save it for all the bad guys you'll be fighting for the Shinra."

She just scowled angrily. "You are so flawed!"

He continued to smile smugly at her, but the grin fell from his face when Kim's angry face became considerably more threatening. She pulled one of her green-bladed daggers from the clip on the side of her belt, and started stalking menacingly towards him.

"Uh... Kim?" he stammered, nervously as he backed away. "What are you doing?"

She made no reply, but her eyes narrowed to slits and her hand tightened around the handle of her weapon as she continued to approach.

"Oh man! Come on Kim, don't you think you're over reacting? I mean its me! Ron! Remember the good times?!"

Still making no answer, she drew her arm back and prepared to throw her weapon at him.

"All right, all right! Maybe they weren't all good! But I-AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH NOOOOO!!"

He cowered when she tossed her knife hard at him, and covered up his head with his arms, squeezing his eyes closed... It missed him by millimeters. And he was startled by the inhuman death cry behind him. Turning around he was surprised to see the blade of Kim's dagger had been buried into the face of a monster that had been sneaking up on him. It had come pretty close to taking a bite out of him too. It looked like a giant grasshopper, about the size of a large dog.

Kim stalked past her friend, still remaining quiet, and pulled her weapon from the dead monster's face.

Ron sighed with relief and wiped his brow. "Woah Kim, for a second there I thought..."

"I'm very angry with you, Ron," she cut him off, as she walked by him, continuing up the mountain path. "Just not angry enough to kill you." Pausing, she seemed to consider what she just said, then she added something with a wicked smile. "Well... not yet anyway."

Ron swallowed hard. "Okaaaay... gonna stop talking now."

"Please and thank you," she said with artificial sweetness.

And he did just that, at least for the next few minutes as they walked. Ron knew Kim well enough to know her moods. And right now the last thing she wanted to hear was his excuses. Even an apology would get her angry; she was in one of her 'never want to hear Ron's voice again' moods. So going with his survival instincts, he decided it was best not to speak until spoken to.

But being distracted by his best friend's animosity towards him, he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and found himself tripping over face first off a precipice, and into a large lake.

"Ron, woah!" Kim grabbed the back of his belt before he fell in, and he dangled there for a moment looking down at the lake before she pulled him back onto solid ground. He tumbled over backwards and landed on his butt, then looked up into scowling green eyes.

"Clumsy much?"

"Um... Kim? I don't think that's a normal lake."

After a brief pause, Kim turned and stood at the lake's edge, then fell to one knee to examine it. It definitely wasn't water. She reached her hand down and dipped it into the glowing white and green liquid.

"Its mako... Lifestream..."

Ron stepped up and stood next to his kneeling friend. "Man... My weirdar is going off like crazy here."

"I know what you mean Ron... I thought all mako had been drained from this entire area by the reactors years ago. This lake should not be here. Its way weird."

"I've heard the planet uses lifestream to heal itself," Ron said. "This place literally had the life sucked out of it, maybe this is Gaia's way of healing?"

"Yeah," she whispered, uncertainly. "Maybe... But seeing it on the surface like this is rare, mass quantities like this usually remain deep beneath the planet's surface. And I'm pretty sure this whole area was pretty much flat before too. What opened up the earth like this? What created this wound in the planet?"

Ron looked to the sky for a moment, then looked at Kim to make a guess. "Maybe a meteorite?"

Kim shook her head. "No, we would have heard the explosion from something big enough to do this from town. And there would be some kind of scorch marks; look around Ron. The Earth is broken up all around the lake. And it happened recently too." She squinted as she carefully examined all of her surroundings. "It's almost as if..." Her eyes went wide. "Oh crap!"

Ron looked nervously at his friend. Nothing good ever happened when Kim Possible looked frightened. And right now she looked absolutely terrified. "What? What is it?"

"Ron this hole was created from underground! Something came up from beneath the earth and created this lake... Something big! I'm getting a ferociously bad feeling about this!"

"Aw man! Kim! Don't say that!"

She glanced at him with confusion. "Huh?"

"You should never say you have a bad feeling!" he whined. "I mean when I have bad feelings, its never a problem! No big! But every time you say you have a bad feeling, something bad always happens! Something really, REALLY bad!"

Kim frowned at him now. "Amp down the Drama Ro-"

As if on cue, an inhuman scream split the air, cutting off whatever Kim Possible wanted to say, closely followed by a wave of emerald tinged white heading straight for them; they ran for cover behind a large rock jutting out of the ground. The mako crashed on the rocks and receded, and followed by another scream of screeching metal. Kim and Ron peeked over the rock, and looked up... and up. It was the size of a skyscraper, and that was with it submerged in mako from the waist down. Its entire body seemed to be made of jagged, blue, mako soaked crystal, with rainbow colors swirling throughout it. It had a broad chest, two massive powerful arms, and when its huge hands crashed down to the edge of the lake, the planet shook. Each of its fingers were at least ten feet long and had pointed, deadly looking claws.

Its face was like the rest of its body, made from crystal. It had no lips, just hundreds of pointed jagged teeth, and two massive orb shaped eyes that stared down at the two humans. One was glowing green, and the other was blood red. The creature had to be at least a hundred feet tall, from its waist to the top of its head, and at least fifty feet from shoulder to shoulder.

Kim looked up at the colossal monster with wide eyes and her jaw agape, but Ron just turned and glared at her. He gestured towards the creature with a hand as if it were little more than proof of his theory.

"Told you so!"

xxxxx

Kim and Ron both just stood there staring up in awe at the colossal monster. They'd both heard about the giant monsters that had terrorized the planet around the first time Sephiroth had tried to destroy the world. The monsters that had all been called Weapon. This thing however dwarfed even those monstrosities. And that was saying a lot.

"That..." Ron started, pointing up at the creature. "... Is really large."

"Yeah, no duh!" Kim admonished.

For a few moments they just stood staring, their heads craned upwards. The monster for the moment seemed content to stare right back at them, though each breath it took rumbled the cliffs around them.

"Ron... I think that's a Mako based life form..."

Ron turned and looked at her blankly. "A what?"

"A Mako Monster. A monster that actually lives in the lifestream, beneath the surface of the planet. Most modern scientists believe them to be just a myth."

"Well, that's pretty cool..."

"That crystal that it seems to be made of. I think its all pure materia. Meaning this thing is packing some serious magical power. Not to mention being harder than diamond."

Ron was smiling now. "That's pretty cool too."

"And I think its angry..."

The smile fell from his face. "Awww man! Seriously lessens the cool factor... So you think this thing took the kid we're looking for?"

"I hope not, Ron. Because if it did, I don't think it was for a play date." Ron looked up at the monster again. Crystal eyelids were narrowing over its red and green eyes, in a look of anger. "So... We doing the usual? I distract it, and you kick its butt?"

Kim turned and glowered at her friend. "You can't be serious!"

"Hey, you're the one with the sixteen styles of Kung Fu, remember?"

"Ron!" she snapped, gesturing up at the monster. "Look at that thing! Its as big as a mountain!"

Ron shook his head. "No, I don't think I've actually ever seen a mountain quite that big before. This fella is considerably bigger."

"Not helping!" she hissed.

"Fine," he sighed, stepping towards the gigantic monster. "Looks like its time for the Ron Man to step up."

A concerned look crossed Kim's face now, as she watched her best friend approach the potentially deadly creature. "Ron? What are you doing?"

Without answering her he looked up and called out to the titan, waving his arms. "Hey yo! Scary Materia thing!"

The monster's different colored eyes focused on the human boy with a particularly threatening looking glare. Kim swallowed hard as she watched. She started to realize that those eyes looked a lot like giant orbs of materia. In her time as a teen hero she had seen even small orbs do huge amounts of damage. She shuddered to think what this monster could do with all that power at its disposal.

"Ron!" she hissed under her breath. "What the heck do you think you're doing?! Come back here!"

Still ignoring her, he continued calling up to the monster. "I don't suppose you've seen a little girl have you?! About eight years old, long black hair?! Yay big?!" He held his hand about four feet from the ground as an example. "Answers to the name of Rinoa? Her parents are kind of worried!"

The monster's low growl caused the whole surrounding mountain range to rumble. Lifting its huge hand from where it rested at the edge of the lake, it was raised up over its head for a moment, before it came plummeting down on the blonde haired boy. Acting quick, Kim charged in, grabbed Ron then leapt a good thirty feet in the air with him. A split second later, and they would have been a pair of teen pancakes.

She landed gracefully on a nearby outcropping of rock on a cliff face, then dropped Ron and glared at him. "What exactly was that?"

"Well apparently brute force wasn't an option. So I thought I'd just try asking."

Rolling her eyes, she turned to look back at the monster. Again it seemed to be content staring at them. As if waiting for them to make another move. She reached into the pocket of her cargo pants and pulled out what looked like a handheld video game. Her Kimmunicator. Pressing a button a young ten year old boy appeared on the screen.

"Hey, 'sup Kim?"

"Wade! We have a big problem!"

"Yeah? How big?"

She turned the Kimmunicator to face the monster that had just tried to kill Ron. "That big!"

"Woah!" he gasped, before starting to type away at his keyboard. "What is that thing?"

"I think its a Mako based life form."

Wade paused. "Kim. The scientific community at large agree that Mako based life forms are nothing more than a myth."

"Does that LOOK like a myth to you, Wade?! Could really use some useful information here! Like now?!"

"Oh man!" he gasped, as he continued to type and scanned the monster through the Kimmunicator. "That thing's skin is harder than diamond! Pure materia!"

"We know!" Ron and Kim both said.

"Meaning its packing some serious magical power!"

"We know!" they snapped again.

"Man this is so cool!"

"Yes Wade, I'm sure the scientist in you is very excited to discover a mythical creature! But could you just tell me how to beat it please?!"

"Um..." He seemed nervous as he typed more frantically than before. "You could try... no that won't work... Or you could... Nah, that isn't any good either!"

Kim gave the monster a frightened look, as it stared back at them and its eyes started to glow brightly with red and green energy. It seemed it had become tired of waiting and had decided to attack.

"Um, Wade?! Knowing now would be better than knowing later, please and thank you!"

"Uhhh... I'm sorry Kim, I've got nuthin'."

"What?!" she gasped.

"But Wade you always have something!" Ron said.

"Sorry guys, that thing is indestructible! And its magic level readings are off the charts. I think you're gonna have to make a run for it!"

"No way!" Kim snapped. "So not an option! Not until we find that little girl!"

"But Kim! You can't fight that thing! Its impossible!"

"Impossible?" she asked with a smirk. "Check..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Wade cut in, holding up his hands. "Check your name. Just know that I advise against this."

"Thanks Wade. Later." She cut him off and put the Kimmunicator back into her pocket. "Okay, looks like we're winging this one Ron. This could get pretty serious, if you want to bail..."

He placed a hand on her shoulder and cut her off. "You know I always have your back, KP. Through thick and thin."

She smiled. "Thanks Ron. I can always count on-LOOK OUT!!"

Quickly shoving him back, she jumped back in the opposite direction to him, just as two immense beams of energy burst from the monster's materia eyes. One red beam and one green. The attack missed both teens by inches, but when the beams hit the cliff wall behind them it caused a massive explosion that sent both of them flying. They landed on the ground, each of them were thrown a good distance away from each other, around the lake the monster was still half submerged in.

They both rose to their feet, her unclipping her two daggers from her belt and Ron pulling his father's sword from his back. The monster looked from one of them, then to the other, seeming to take its time deciding which puny human it wanted to destroy first.

"I'll do my distraction thing, KP! You do your 'pull off the impossible' thing!"

Kim nodded at that, but really had no idea what she was going to do. She had fought some pretty tough monsters in her day, but never something like this. How do you beat something that's indestructible? But she didn't want to quit either. She just wasn't wired that way. One way or another, Kim Possible was taking this thing down!

xxxxx

"HEY, MAKO FREAK!!" Ron screamed. "OVER HERE!! YOU THINK YOU'RE SCARY?! MY MOM'S GOT CRYSTAL PUPPY COLLECTIBLES SCARIER THAN YOU!!"

Seeming to understand Ron's words, the monster decided which of the humans he was going to squish first. Turning to Ron, it let out a deafening inhuman roar that shook the very planet, then lifted its hand up above its head.

Ron paused, and looked up at the horrifying sight. "Uh-oh!"

The gigantic crystal palm came down hard, and Ron barely avoided it by diving to the side, then rolling somewhat clumsily back to his feet. The monster tried to crush him again with its other hand, but again Ron barely managed to avoid it. Then deciding to try something different, the red and green laser beams again lanced out from its eyes, and right at Ron.

The two beams swirled around in random circular motions in an attempt to hit the boy, who was himself running around in random circular motions. Screaming like a little girl, often clumsily tripping over his own feet as he moved, he still somehow managed to avoid the deadly light display. Though at some point the beams did manage to cut his pants from his legs.

He stopped running around to look with a scowl down at his love heart boxers. "Aw man, why is it always the pants?!"

xxxxx

That thing had almost killed Ron! Again! Now Kim was mad! And nothing on the planet would guarantee more pain, than making Kim Possible mad! On instinct she fired up the magical power of the materia orbs in her weapons, causing her eyes to glow white and her two daggers to glow white and red respectively. Then she unleashed a spell combo that had annihilated more than a few powerful monsters in the past.

First she struck with the coldest ice spell she could muster from her white glowing dagger, which was enough to encase even something this huge in ice. Then immediately after that she unleashed a fire spell from her other weapon. In the past it had been a very effective combo. Rapidly heat something frozen, and generally all she'd have to do from there is stand back and watch the fireworks...

Sadly, there were no fireworks this time around. In her hurry to pull of her combo, she hadn't even noticed the lack of ice on the beast with her first spell. Its crystal body just glowed faintly when it was hit by her magic, a white glow when the ice hit and a red glow with the fire.

It turned away from Ron, and lowered its eyes on the little girl. Then it opened its fang filled mouth, in which a ball of white energy started to form. A jagged bolt of white energy burst out from the ball, and Kim immediately started running. The energy followed at her heels in a steady stream, freezing the ground with massive amounts of ice as it went. This was hundreds of times more powerful than the ice spell she had just cast.

As she ran, she soon seemed to be cornered, as she was heading for a cliff wall. But leaping into it, she propelled off it in a back somersault. She spun it the air, narrowly avoiding the bolt of ice magic and hitting a button on her belt as she flew. The button caused something to pop out from the bottom of her boots. Ice skates.

She landed on the ice field the monster had just created, and shot off skating in the opposite direction. The field wasn't perfectly flat though, she had to dodge around, and jump over jagged hills and pillars of ice as she moved. And as if to make matters worse, the monster seemed to have decided to use Kim's spell combo. The white ball of energy in its mouth started to turn red, and soon she was again being followed by a bolt of magic. Only this bolt was fire, and as soon as it hit the ice, the chemical reaction to the heat caused the expected effect. Explosion.

So there she was skating for all she was worth, with the ice field exploding at her heels, when the fire spell hit it. And even in this life threatening situation, her sharp mind kept working.

'Okay. It absorbs magic, amplifies it, then throws it back at you. Now what?'

For a few moments, as she reached the end of the gradually exploding ice field, she thought the monster's fire spell was going to hit her. But just as she was about to be engulfed by the immense fire magic that was following her, it stopped thanks to the smallest of distractions.

"HYAAAHH!! Take that, big fella!" Ron screamed, hitting it as hard as he could in the lower back, with his sword. "Say hello to my friend the Lotus Blade! You like that?!"

To this monster, it probably felt like little more than an insect crawling up its back. But it was just enough of a nuisance to make it stop its spell, and turn to squish the puny bug. Kim watched her friend with thankful eyes, as he continued to attack the impossibly powerful monster. He almost looked heroic... At least he would have if he was wearing any pants.

The monster turned to face Ron, clearly finding neither him or Kim threat enough to concentrate on one or the other. It had been close to destroying Kim, but had stopped to take care of the more immediate nuisance. It was powerful, God-powerful actually, but that made it over confident. It was toying with them, attacking at its leisure and drawing out the battle...

"Well," Kim whispered out loud. "That's at least one weakness noted. Over confidence."

Just as it turned its full attention on Ron though, she decided to make herself the nuisance this time. If it kept alternating its attention between her and Ron, they might just be able to wear it down. Holding her daggers above her head, she channeled her anger and other emotions into pure energy that she fused into her blades. This made them glow with red energy.

To channel ones emotions into pure fighting energy and unleashing it, was something local warriors called a limit technique. And Kim's technique was a most formidable one. She leapt into the air, more than twenty feet then started running vertically up its crystal spine, the red glow from her weapons becoming even brighter as she climbed. Then once she got to the back of its neck she started slashing.

It seemed like hundreds slashes in seconds, each one letting off a large explosion of red energy when it struck. As she made this; her most lethal attack, she seemed to be suspended in the air up there by an invisible force. Then after a multitude of blade swipes, she made a final blow where she stabbed into the back of the monster's neck with her daggers, then somersaulted backwards. As she fell the almost one hundred feet from the top of the monster, the area she had just struck burst into a massive explosion of red energy. Like a delayed effect. It totally engulfed the upper part of its body in a cloud of red smoke.

When she came within a few feet of the ground, a magical gust of wind kicked up and stopped her descent for a moment, before allowing her to land safely on her feet. She found herself standing next to Ron, who was in the process of putting his pants back on.

"Nice move, KP. That at least had to hurt him."

Kim smiled and nodded. "Well. I definitely heard something crack up there."

Ron glanced down at her hand, then frowned and pointed at what she was holding. "Um... That wouldn't have been one of your daggers, would it?"

Kim held up her dagger, and when she saw that it had been snapped in half, she pouted. "Aw man! Wade told me these ones would never break!"

Ron shrugged. "He probably didn't think we'd ever fight an indestructible legendary monster."

"Well he obviously thought wrong!" she retorted.

"Obviously."

They both stared up at the monster, and got another look at its face as the red cloud started to dissipate. And when they did the blood promptly ran out of their faces. Its eyes glowed even more brightly than before, and the low growl rumbled the planet even harder.

"Um... I'm really hoping that last attack of yours was just you warming up, Kim."

Kim swallowed, as both of them kept their eyes on the face of the totally livid looking monster. "Actually... That was the best I had... I was kinda hoping that was going to bring him down."

Without taking his eyes from the monster, he stated the obvious. "I think all it did was make him angrier."

"For a change Ron, I am in total agreement with you. And I know this is gonna sound ferociously desperate, but do you have any ideas?"

He looked to the floor to a second to think about that, then looked back up at the monster with a nervous smile. He held up his hand with two fingers extended into a peace sign. "Um... Peace and love?"

The monster started to bend down, and Kim just groaned and rolled her eyes. The monster lowered its head so its face was at the same level as the two teens, then it opened up its maw and let out the most ear shattering roar yet. Its breath kicked up a wind powerful enough to throw them off their feet, and send them flying fast towards a nearby cliff wall. Hard enough to kill the both of them.

xxxxx

As usual, Kim acted inhumanly fast, and saved the both of them. As they flew towards the jagged rocks of the cliff, she grabbed Ron's wrist with one hand then stabbed the ground hard with the remaining dagger in her right. She held onto the handle of her knife for dear life, until the monster's roar died down, and so did the wind. The moment it stopped, she took the opportunity to drag Ron behind the biggest rock she could find.

They sat down behind the rock to catch their breath, and just remained silent for a good few minutes as they breathed hard.

"Thanks Kim."

She smiled at him fondly. There was a strong feeling that this was the last time she was going to have with her best friend, at least in this life. Not that she would admit that to herself. Kim Possible was stubborn to the end. Despite this though, she decided to forgive him any prior indiscretions.

"No big, Ron. You're always there for me, and I'm always there for you, right?"

He smiled, nodded and put a friendly arm around her shoulder. "Right. Always."

"So... Any other bright ideas?" she asked.

"Nah. The whole 'peace and love' thing was the best I had."

Even in this dire situation, Kim managed a giggle. "Yeah. I kinda figured."

There were a few moments of silence, before Ron turned to look at his best friend with a serious look in his brown eyes. "Kim?"

She looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"In case we don't make it, I..."

"Don't say that, Ron! We'll be okay, we always are."

"Yeah... I know... But I still want to tell you something, Kim. I... Thanks."

"Thanks? For what?"

"Well... You know... For staying my friend all these years. For always being there for me."

She smiled warmly. "Well Ron, thanks right back at you. For always having my back."

They were smiling at each other now, but when Ron opened his mouth to say something else, Kim cut him off.

"Where's that light coming from?" Kim asked, with a frightened look appearing on her face.

There was a bright white light emanating and intensifying from the other side of the rock they were hiding behind, and they soon became aware of a loud humming sound that was getting louder by the second. Ron stood up for a moment to peek at the monster over the rock, then sat back down next to her with a pale look on his face.

"Kim?"

"What?" she asked, nervously.

"When the big bad materia monster starts glowing so bright that it hurts my eyes... That's a bad thing, right?"

Kim paled just as much as Ron. "Oh... crap..."

And in that moment, both of them were engulfed in endless white light.

xxxxx

The monster unleashed an unbelievably destructive attack, sending out an explosion of white energy outwards from its immense body, that obliterated everything for miles around. The rock Ron and Kim were hiding behind simply evaporated, and the two of them were once again sent flying. If not for the protection magic Kim had cast on the both of them at the last moment, they would have been vaporized too. But protection magic or not, they were hit hard. Very hard.

The explosion of white light soon faded, after decimating the surrounding landscape. The huge crater the monster had created quickly started to fill with more lifestream, that pooled around it. The mako flowed from hundreds of holes in the rock at an amazing speed, and the lake was soon ten times bigger than before.

Both teens landed hard on the ground after the attack, but only one of them remained conscious. And that one was Ron Stoppable. He looked, and saw Kim sprawled out on the ground in front of him, near the edge of the newly enlarged lake. She moaned from her injuries, but remained out cold.

Ron too was injured at least as badly as his friend. Everything hurt like hell, and all his body wanted him to do was give up and go to sleep. But as he watched the monster wading forward in the lifestream towards them, he knew he couldn't. It raised and fell slightly with every forward step it took, and each footfall deep beneath the lake's surface made the planet shake hard. 

Ron fought through the excruciating pain to climb back to his feet, and gripped his sword which he had somehow managed to keep a hold of in the explosion. Kim was unconscious and helpless! She was also the closest to the monster, and was going to be the first it came after. Ron wouldn't let that happen! He didn't care about the odds, didn't care that he was injured and wouldn't be a match for this thing even in his prime. There was only one thing he cared about.

Protecting Kim Possible! He didn't know how, but he was going to stop this thing! He knew it was impossible, knew it could squish both of them with zero effort. But he was going to stop it. If he died in the process, that didn't matter, as long as Kim was safe. He just stalked towards the creature, tightening his hand around the handle of his father's sword as he prepared to protect his best friend.

He walked past Kim's prone body, and towards the monster with a determined look in his brown eyes. The materia monster made a similar approach towards him, and Ron held up his sword in preparation to make his first attack.

And then he blacked out.

xxxxx

To be continued...

Okay, that's the second Chapter, hope you enjoyed it. And I'm kinda hoping enough Kim Possible fans are also Final Fantasy VII fans, and vice versa. Nevertheless, I have made a goal in my writing to finish any story I start, whether it has a following or not. Nothing I hate more than stories that never get finished. Anyway, I'd like to thank my first reviewer here, 'w00t1!,' and I hope you continue to read and review. Also anyone else who reads, please drop me a review too. I'm not just looking for praise, I also enjoy constructive criticism as I'm always looking to improve my writing. Signed reviews will always recieve a reply. Anyway, keep an eye out for Chapter 3 if you want to see what becomes of our heroes. And on a final note, I would like to thank my brother, who graciously agreed to BETA read this story for me. Thanks bro.

-Jawelik 


	3. Chapter 2

Rebirth: Part 2

by Jawelik

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Disclaimer: Neither Final Fantasy VII or Kim Possible are mine... Wish they were. Aren't.

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The last thing Ron remembered, he was preparing to fight a mountain sized crystal monster with God-like powers. Now though, for some unknown reason, he found himself sinking in a ocean of endless white. Whatever was going on, he didn't like it. If he was here, who was protecting Kim?! That thing was going to kill her!

'Okay Ron, calm down! Panicking isn't going to help anything, and Kim needs you. So you need to get out of here and get to her.' He paused and contemplated that as he continued to sink through the whiteness. 'Where is here anyway?'

For a second he wondered if he had somehow fallen into the lifestream while fighting (or more accurately getting the snot beaten out of him by) the Materia Monster. He immediately disregarded that notion though when he stopped sinking and softly landed on something that was the last thing would have expected. A beautiful flowerbed.

"Okay... This is wierd... Pretty. No doubt its pretty... But wierd..."

"I'm glad you like it," a soft woman's voice said from behind him.

He turned to look at who had spoken and found a pretty young woman wearing a pink dress. She barely looked twenty, had long brown hair and the biggest, warmest brown eyes he had ever seen. There was such a strong feeling of warmth and kindness about her, and Ron found himself liking her right away.

"Okay, what's going on?" he asked.

"Ron, I need to speak wi..."

"Wait!" he gasped, looking around. "Oh God, I'm dead aren't I?!"

"No Ron, you're..."

"Nothing but white, and pretty pretty flowers?! I've returned to the planet, I am so dead, oh man! Listen lady, I seriously can't die right now!"

"Ron, please calm yourself and..."

"You're like and angel or something right, listen lets make a deal! Let me go back for like five minutes, I'll save Kim, then you can have my soul, or whatever!"

The girl put her hand to her mouth and attempted to hold back her giggling. "I don't want your soul."

"Then what?! I'll give you anything for five minutes more, I..."

"Your friend is fine, Ron. And so are you. You're both a little beat up, but none the worse for wear."

"But the monster..."

"Gone."

"You mean you..."

"I'm sorry Ron, there isn't much time, and I must tell you something."

"Wait, why should I listen to anything you say?! How do I really know Kim's okay?!"

She caught his eyes with her own, and smiled. "Trust me." He froze as he stared into her brown orbs. He had heard that eyes were the windows to the soul, but for the first time he understood why people said that. It was like he could actually see her soul. And it was the warmest, purest and most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He couldn't remember ever trusting anyone more. Except maybe Kim.

"Uh... Okay..."

"Good. Now please listen."

"So I'm not dead?"

She sighed with a smile, but didn't seem all that put off by the additional interuption. "No Ron. It's more like you're dreaming."

He looked around and nodded thoughtfully. "Wow. My dreams are never like this."

"I know," she replied, with a nod. "Mostly nightmares, right?"

He stared at her. "Yeah... Nightmares are all I have; never had a pleasant dream in my life. How did you know that?"

She smiled. "I know alot about you."

He smiled back and pointed a finger. "Wait a minute! Are you my conscience?"

Again he had the girl failing to hold back her giggling. "No, I'm not your conscience. My name is Aeris. And I have something important to tell you."

"Okaaay... This doesn't sound like it's going to be about happy puppies, lollypops and rainbows..."

Her demeanor became much more serious. "No... A critical moment in your life is approaching. You will be tempted to go against your nature, and do something you know is wrong."

Ron frowned. "That's it? Come on lady, I'm a teenager! So I'm going to misbehave a little in the future, get tempted to do something wrong? That's like standard teenager procedure, what's the worst that could happen?"

"The worst that could happen Ron, is that your every nightmare could be made a reality."

His blood ran cold. "Th... That's bad..."

"Yes Ron, so you must never forget what I'm about to tell you."

He was taking this very seriously now. "Okay, I'm all ears. Just tell me what I need to do."

"Wake up Ron!"

He paused. "Huh?"

"Please wake up! Please!"

"Aeris?"

"I... Couldn't live without you Ron, please! Don't be dead!"

"Okay now I'm confused again."

"Come on breathe! Breathe dammit!"

He started coughing hard for no aparrent reason, then he started to realise Aeris' voice had changed. And it had changed to a voice that was very familar. She was crying now too.

"Please Ron, oh God please! Just wake up!"

His vision started to go blurry, and he suddenly had the wierdest sensation of being pulled up off the flowerbed and lifted upwards at a sickening speed. Then once his journey ended, he softly spoke the name of the girl he heard crying.

"... Kim?"

xxxxx

Kim had been shocked to wake up and still be alive. The last thing she remembered before blacking out, was the Materia Monster's explosion attack vaporising a large chunk of the surrounding mountain range. But she woke up, very well battered and in a lot of pain, but alive. And more surprisingly, the monster that had given them so much trouble was nowhere to be seen. The giant mako lake was still there, but its occupant had vanished without a trace.

But she ceased to care about the monster when she realised she couldn't see Ron. Fighting through the pain of her injuries she forced herself to her feet. And with the slightly higher viewpoint allowed her to find Ron right away. Floating face down in the Mako lake.

"Ron!" she gasped, not hesitating to dive into the mako, and drag him to the bank. Too distraught to even think, she started with CPR without even checking for a heartbeat or breathing. Crying for him to wake up and not be dead. She didn't even realise it at the time, but there was also something about 'not being able to live without him' in there too.

"... Kim?"

"Ron?! Are you okay?!"

He rolled onto his side and curled up into a ball which greatly worried Kim. At least until he spoke. "Just five more minutes, KP. It's a Saturday, you know I always sleep in on Saturday morning."

Now knowing he was alright, her grumpy Kim attitude didn't waste a moment in reasserting itself. "Ron! Not only is it Thursday, its four in the afternoon! Now open your eyes and look at me right this instant!"

He opened his eyes and turned to look at her with his 'quit being so bossy' frown. But rather that reply with her usual 'quit telling me what to do with you facial expressions' glare, she gasped with shock. Ron's frown was replaced with a worried look as Kim stared.

"What are you staring at?" When she failed to answer, he got considerably more adjitated. "It's my face isn't it! Oh man that monster totally mangled my face, didn't it?! I'm ugly aren't I, DON'T LOOK AT ME!!"

"Your eyes," she whispered, pointing.

"It gouged out my eyes?! NOOOOO!! I REALLY, REALLY NEEDED THOSE!!"

"They're... blue... and glowy..."

He paused, and reached up to his face. "Oh right. That would explain the whole 'being able to see' thing."

"Wow you must've swallowed some of the lifestream or something, they're mako eyes. Just like Cloud."

"Oh great, like I'm not enough of an outcast, now they're gonna call me freak eyes!"

"Amp down the drama Ron, Wade can probably fix it."

"Yeah... You're probably right." They sat on the ground beside each other silently for a while, then Ron smiled and looked mischieviously at Kim. Clearly not liking the look, she frowned.

"What?"

"Did you say, 'you wouldn't be able to live without me?'" he snickered.

She smiled at him now, wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close. "Without my best friend? You bet."

Ron laughed. "That is like, so embarrassing!"

She smirked meanly. "What about you, huh? Who's Aeris?"

His own smile remained. "Oh she was just this really pretty girl I was dreaming about."

She scooted closer to him. "Oooh, dream-girl huh? Tell all!"

He thought about it for a while, before answering. "She said that all my nightmares would come true if... Um... I got a detention... I think. Its all kinda foggy now."

She chuckled at him. "If you got a detention? Yeah, that sounds like a Ron-dream alright."

Not even Kim had any idea what Ron-dreams were really like. In truth, no one did, it was a terrifying secret Ron had long kept to himself.

Kim climbed to her feet, then helped Ron up too. "Ron. I'm glad you're okay."

He smiled widely at her. "Yeah, me too... glad you're okay too, I mean."

They looked at each other for a few moments more, then Ron's new mako eyes moved to look at something over Kim's shoulder.

"Uh... Kim? That kid we're looking for?"

"Yeah?"

"She wouldn't look anything like that little bit peeking out from that cave behind you would she?"

Kim turned just in time to see a small head of black hair retreat into the cave. She smiled widely and ran to the opening in the cliff wall with Ron in hot pursuit. They found the frightened little girl curled up in the back of the cave, staring with terrified eyes at the two teenagers approaching her.

"Rinoa?" Kim whispered softly.

The raven haired little eight year old stared at Kim then Ron, and hesitantly nodded.

"My name's Kim Possible. Your Mommy and Daddy sent me here to bring you home."

Rinoa looked silently at Kim, but didn't move a muscle or say a thing.

"We're the good guys," Ron added.

Slowly she climbed to her feet, then started to run towards Kim. The teen hero fell to one knee and opened up her arms for the child. But to both Kim and Ron's surprise she brushed past the red head like she wasn't there, then ran up to her sidekick and tightly attached herself to his leg.

Both Kim and Ron stared at the little girl, who was hugging Ron's leg like her life depended on it.

"Okay, this is a first," Ron said.

Though Kim would never admit it, she was the smallest bit put off that the kid they had come to rescue had chosen Ron over her. She was the teen hero, and she was always the one who held the frightened little kids and made them feel better. Besides, she was so much better with kids than Ron! Okay, that was a lie, Kim was better at keeping kids in line than Ron. When it came to relating to little kids, Ron was practically one of them.

She looked down at the girl, who was now holding Ron's leg with one arm, and sucking her thumb on the other. "You want to go with him?" she asked as sweetly as she could.

Rinoa just nodded, and Ron smiled then picked her up and carried her out of the cave, with Kim in tow. "Okay lets take you back to your mom and dad okay?"

Clearly not the talkative type, she seemed plenty content to just nod her head.

"And how about we get some ice cream on the way back? Bet your hungry after more than a day in that cave."

She nodded again, smiling around her thumb this time. But Kim frowned.

"I think we should take her straight home Ron, no pit stops for ice cream."

Both Rinoa and Ron stared at mean old Kim with identical pouts.

"But Kiiim!" Ron whined, childishly. "I want ice cream!"

Rinoa nodded in agreement to Ron's whining.

Kim sighed and continued down the mountain path. "Fine. You can be such a baby sometimes."

"Well, whatever gets us ice cream, right Rinoa?" She nodded again, smiling widely. Ron held up his hand. "High five!"

The little girl slapped his hand, then they followed Kim down the mountain.

As the three of them departed, they failed to notice that they were being watched by a man who stood upon a cliff edge looking down on them. He wore a long torn red cape, with some of the red fabric wrapped around the lower part of his face. One of his hands and both of his feet both seemed to be cybernetic and made of golden metal. And his dark reddish brown eyes were locked on the young man who was carrying the girl.

"So," Vincent Valentine whispered. "This is where they hid you."

xxxxx

Ron and the little girl got on famously, and Kim felt really left out all the way home. Once reaching her bike (which she was really relived had escaped the materia monster's explosive attack) they found they had overlooked the need for a third helmet. Ron decided to give up his, and Kim said she'd just have to drive slowly. Ron had the delighted little girl giggling as he put his helmet on her and joked about his big head, and asked her if there was an echo in there. Still though she never spoke.

Kim was much the same though, she didn't say a word either. All of Ron's attention was on Rinoa, and even if Ronoa did talk, Kim doubted any of the child's words would be directed at her. It seemed totally lame, but she was like the third wheel, in a group containing her sidekick and an eight year old girl. Not even the stop for icecream could cheer her up, where she decided to get her fav' cookies and cream 'cheer me up' flavour.

Ron and Rinoa just enjoyed their's so much, in a way only little kids can. By making as much mess as humanly possible. Ron, unsurprisingly was even messier than his new friend, and wound up with more on his face than he had in his mouth. Still the two of them were enjoying it so much, Kim's own ice cream just seemed so... boring.

By the time they got back to Middleton and returned Rinoa to her totally ecstatic parents, Kim knew it was way selfish, but she was happy to have her best friend to herself again.

"Oh thank you Kim Possible!" Rinoa's mother gushed.

"Yes, thank you!" the father agreed. "I don't know how we could ever repay you!"

Kim smiled warmly, well within her element now. "Oh it was no big. Just doing the right thing, its what I do."

Rinoa pushed past her parents from behind and ran up to Ron and hugged his leg. Both parents looked at him curiously.

"Did you help Miss Possible?" the father asked.

"Oh you know. Kinda. I'm the distraction, she does all the hard stuff. I'm the sidekick, she's the hero."

Rinoa tugged on his pant leg, and he fell to his knee in front of her in response. She gave him a hug and he hugged her back, but he was a little surprised when she whispered something into his ear.

He smiled and pulled out of the hug to look at her. "So you do speak, huh?"

She nodded with a shy smile.

"Was starting to think you were mute or something. Kinda a wierd thing to say though... Well I think its time me and Kim got going."

Rinoa grabbed his shirt as he moved to stand up, and shook her head hard. His smile widened.

"You don't want me to go?" She shook her head again. "Well let me tell you something Rinoa, you're about the coolest little girl I've ever met. But you know, your mommy and daddy were really worried about you. So why don't you show them how much you love them and give them both a big hug? I'll see you later, I promise."

Reluctantly she pulled away from him, then ran up to her parents and hugged them both. They both hugged back as a group, then her father picked her up.

"I might come and visit sometime if its okay with your folks. Would you like that?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

"And I'll bring Kim too," he added, gesturing to his friend who smiled.

Rinoa went with her first instinct and shook her head. Kim's smile fell. 

Ron stepped in close and whispered. "Now Rinoa, you don't want to hurt Kim's feelings do you?" Then he spoke a little louder so Kim could hear. "So, wouldn't you like me to bring Kim too?"

She looked at the red head, forced a smile, then nodded.

Ron walked to Kim, as he waved at the little girl in her father's arms. "Okay, later Rinoa."

She waved back, then Ron and Kim walked away side by side. He quickly noticed the sour look on his friend's face.

"That was so a pity nod," she hissed.

Ron chuckled then looked back at the happily reunited family, and watched Rinoa whisper something into her father's ear. The man smiled, then looked right at Ron.

"Oh you are are you?" he chuckled. "I hope I get to give you away when you do. And is mommy going to be the maid of honour?"

Not really finding hard to guess what she had just said, Ron continued walking beside Kim and sighed. "Yet another marriage proposal from an eight year old. Why don't girls my own age see the appeal?"

"Oh, cheer up Ron. Why don't you come home with me, and help me pack?"

He was confused by this. "Uhhh... Pack?"

"We're going to Midgar for military training aren't we?"

"But I didn't think... I thought you were..."

"Hey after our run in with that monster today, I'm thinking a little hard military training might be good for us."

"Wait a minute, did you just say hard military training?" Ron asked, going pale.

"Didn't you think of that when you signed us up? It's gonna be like boot camp, with drill seargeants, obstacle courses and pushups instead of detention."

Ron sighed again. "I'm seeing a whole lotta pushups in my future."

"Don't worry Ron, its just one year of intense physical and spiritual training," she snickered, knowing her words weren't comforting in the slightest.

He frowned sadly, then decided to do what he did best. Try and weasel his way out of hard work. "You know Kim, you were right, it was way wrong of me to sign you up without asking you! We totally shouldn't go!"

"We're going," she said simply.

"But my old tricycle injury," he whined rubbing his knee. "I'm soft Kim, too soft! Won't last three days in that..."

"We're going."

"But... but..."

"I'll help you pack. We leave for Midgar in a week."

"What? A week? But... I... have a date a week from now, guess I can't go!"

She stopped walking and glared at him. "A date? You?

"It could happen!"

She stared for a few moments longer, then continued walking towards home. "We're going."

"Awww maaan!"

His whining didn't cease for quite a while. And it didn't occur to either of them to think, what exactly had happened to that materia monster? Both just assumed it had become bored with the two weakling humans, and sunk back into its lake. They had both assumed wrong. And niether of them were going to even think about it until just over a year later.

When Ron Stoppable's nightmares began to come true.

xxxxx

To be continued...

Ok, sorry for the long absence. Been getting used to life as a working man, but now I'm a bit more confortable with my schedule, I've put aside some time every night to do a little writing. I've actually completed a whole bunch of chapters to this story already, and am only about five chapters away from finishing it. So the updates should be pretty frequent until chapter ten. Even after that, seeing as I'm writing every night, it shouldn't take me long to get this one done. And like I've said before, I WILL finish it. And any other story I start. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few of my ideas down on paper now. )

Anyway, before signing off, I need to once again thank my brother for BETA reading this for me. Thanks bro. I could probably also use another BETA reader if anyone's interested. I do have one guy who reads my stuff, but he's never played Final Fantasy VII before (I KNOW, what the hell is wrong with him?!) so he might have trouble following the story. Anyway, please review, I'd love to hear from you and find out what you thought. Constructive criticisms, compliments, extravagant gifts, first born children and marriage proposals are all welcome. :D

-Jawelik 


	4. Chapter 3

Rebirth: Part 3

by Jawelik

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Disclaimer: The Characters in this story belong to Disney and Squaresoft. One or two minor characters may be mine, but most aren't.

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Kim and Ron left for Midgar on a Friday. Neither packed much, just some spare clothes, their weapons, some food for the trip, and a couple of hundred gil their parents had given them. Shinra Inc had promised all recruits that they would be well taken care of while they trained, with accommodations, food and a fair wage. This didn't stop Kim's dad from giving her some last minute advice though.

"You be careful around any boys in that Academy Kimmie Cub. Those soldier types only have one thing on their mind, you remember that."

Kim sighed and hugged her father, while rolling her eyes so he couldn't see. Off she was to military training, where she would probably be training to go up against the worst criminals and monsters on the planet, and her father was worried about boys. Still, her father had absolute confidence in his daughter to handle anything... except boys.

Kim and Ron met at her large motorcycle and stored both their back packs in the storage compartment. Ron had been wearing a pair of sunglasses with reflective mirror lenses, since their run in with that materia monster. After learning that Wade couldn't undo the glow that the mako had put on his eyes, he had become very self conscious about them and had worn the glasses ever since. The lenses were oval and covered his eyes perfectly. They were the kind that clipped onto the bridge of his nose.

Even Kim had to admit they kinda suited him. But she just didn't like the reason he was wearing them, so again she stared at him with a raised eyebrow, like she often did when he did something she didn't like.

Ron recognized the look immediately, and frowned at her. "What?"

"The sunglasses? Again? I mean seriously Ron..."

"We've been over this Kim!" he cut her off. "I like my glasses! I don't see what the problem is!"

"The problem is that you've got nothing to be ashamed of! Your eyes-"

"Have nothing to do with it!" He ripped off the glasses and looked her right at her with angry, faintly glowing blue eyes. "I just like the glasses, and that's it!"

Kim looked into those eyes with annoyance. "Don't try and kid me Ron, remember who you're talking to! The girl who knows you better than you do! And personally I think the mako eyes really suit you. They're just like-"

"Okay, you can stop right there!" he snapped, clipping his shades back onto the bridge of his nose. "Stop comparing me to Cloud! He's a hero! He can handle the freaky eyes! I'm just... just..."

Her expression softened. "Just what?"

He turned away and mumbled his answer under his breath and he walked off. "... a sidekick."

Kim didn't like seeing Ron like this. "Ron, you know you're my partner, not-"

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed, before turning to her and offering a reassuring smile. "Look... I'm sorry for bringing you down from your good mood, KP. Why don't we just drop the whole glasses thing, and enjoy our trip?"

Kim looked into her reflection in his glasses, then nodded. She didn't want to bring him down either. So for a change she let her friend have his way - at least for now. They headed off to Midgar and arrived early Saturday morning. Training at the Academy didn't start until Monday, but they decided to do the whole tourist thing for a few days, and enjoy themselves before they got started. There was going to be a year of it, and neither of them had any doubt it was going to be gruelling. Ron did a lot more whining about that fact than Kim though.

The city they came to wasn't really the true Midgar. The original city had been torn up three years earlier, by the meteor which had come dangerously close to destroying the planet. The city they were in now was called Edge and was built around the ruins, which were still too dangerous for anyone to inhabit. Rumors of intense mako radiation and powerful monsters kept most people away. Edge would often be referred to as Midgar as well though. And the pair found themselves enjoying this new city.

With plenty of stores, which Kim forced Ron to help her shop at, and a few particularly fun clubs, there was no shortage of things to do. In fact by the time Monday came around and they were headed for the recently built Shinra Academy for their orientation, there were still things they wanted to do. Ron smiled and pointed to a Restaurant & Bar that they passed on the way to the Academy.

"Hey check it out, its Tifa's Final Heaven! I've heard about that place; the food is supposed to be amazing! Let's stop and have something!"

Kim grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the bar. "We can't, we'll be late."

"Awww, come on Kim, just a sandwich or something? We have time!"

"I'm not going to be late for my first day because of your stomach!"

"Fine," he retorted, trying to pull away from her. "I'll go by myself and meet you there."

"Oh no you won't! You're not going to be late either!"

"But Kim!"

She turned and cut him off with the look which always succeeded in scaring him into submission.

"Awww, Kim! Not the angry face!"

"We're going to the Academy now!" she snapped. "No pit stops!"

He pouted childishly and looked at the ground. "Fine... But the first time off we get, we come here and eat."

Kim smiled now. "Okay. Deal."

As usual Ron's cheerful demeanor was quick to return. "Booyah!"

xxxxx

The two were soon standing at attention in a large assembly hall, with close to two hundred fellow recruits. The hall looked similar to the school gym back home, but lacked the basketball hoops and other sports equipment. The floors were polished wood, walls made up of wood and metal girders and dozens of small windows situated around the room, near the ceiling. There were no chairs which forced everyone to stand, and there was a stage in front of them with a lone podium placed in the center. It was loud for a while, due to all the recruits talking, but the hall went silent when four people walked onto the stage.

Two of them were familiar to everyone, but the other two, not so much. There were some chairs on the stage, which three of the people took, while the handsome blonde haired man in an expensive looking white suit stepped up to the podium. Everyone went quiet as they waited for him to speak.

He spent a moment looking over the crowd and smiled warmly. Ron wasn't sure what it was, but despite the warmth, there was something he disliked about this guy from the get go.

"Greetings cadets, and welcome to Shinra Military Academy. I am President Rufus Shinra."

A few people applauded, but not many. Rufus and his family name weren't very well liked by anyone on the planet. In truth if Cloud hadn't been the one making the summons for able warriors, the turnout today wouldn't have been nearly as good.

"I am well aware of the public's negative feelings towards myself and my family's company, and I will be the first to admit that we are deserving of those feelings. My family... I... Have much to atone for. And I plan to. Starting with you."

"You may not know it yet, but there is a great destiny before each and every one of you. For the next year, you will all be trained by the best experts and instructors that money can buy. Then, after your graduation you will be dispatched around the world, to keep the peace and enforce the law. Thanks to you, the anarchic days of our world are numbered!"

This seemed to change the mood in the room a little, and a few more of the recruits started clapping.

"Shinra's army is now a peace keeping organization. And I am asking all of you... Begging you... To please help me to atone. Help me fight the good fight. Help me bring law and justice back to the world of Gaia!"

Everyone applauded that, even Ron (who was still a little creeped out by the guy). One thing he could say about him though is that he knew how to work a crowd.

"As I said, there is a great destiny before all of you. And I could think of no man better suited to leading you into that destiny, than our new General. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the man who saved the world two times over. Cloud Strife."

Rufus stepped down, and as Cloud stood up to take his place at the podium, he received a considerably warmer reception from the crowd than Rufus. Though he had always been somewhat of a recluse, Cloud Strife was probably one of the most respected warriors on the face of the planet. And it showed.

Ron's applause of course was the loudest and most obnoxious. "Wooo! YEAH, GO CLOUD!! YOU DA MAN!!"

Most everyone else made do with reserved and respectful clapping, so Ron's screaming was easily heard by everyone.

"YOU GO BOY!! WHOOP, WHOOP, WHOOP!!" He pumped his fist in the air as he cheered.

Cloud stared at the weird blonde kid in sunglasses for a moment before speaking into the microphone. "Hello... I have never been good at public speaking, so..."

"WOOO!! NOT GOOD AT PUBLIC SPEAKING, YEEEAAAHHH!! YOU ROCK SO-OW!! Kim that hurt... Wait, not the angry face again! Okay, I'll be quiet..."

Cloud frowned for a few moments, and a few cadets started laughing at Ron's antics. After things went quiet again though, Cloud continued his speech. "As I was saying, I am not very good at public speaking," he said glaring in Ron's direction. "So I will try and get straight to the point. The jobs you will all be training for in this Academy do not only entail a great deal of hard work, but also a lot of responsibility. You will be made responsible for not only the interests of Shinra Inc, but also the safety and prosperity of the people of Gaia."

"So we at the Academy will make sure you earn this responsibility. This honor. For the next year, you will all be worked very hard. Worked to your limits, mentally, physically and spiritually. Those of you prepared to do that will become protectors of Gaia. Those who do not wish to put in the work can leave now."

On cue Ron headed for the door, only to be grabbed by Kim and pulled back to his spot beside her. "Awww maaan," he was heard to whine.

Cloud watched for a few moments as no one else moved to leave, and he nodded with a barely noticeable smile. "Good. Already you all make me proud. Following this ceremony, you will all be led to the main training facility in the center of these grounds. There you will all be given a full medical diagnostic, then each of you will be issued your uniforms and equipment. Following that you..."

"Um... General sir?!" Ron interrupted again. "Does this medical thing involve any shots, I can't stand needl-OW!! Kim!"

Frowning again, Cloud ignored Ron this time. "If there are any questions, they can wait until later. For now, just allow me to continue."

"Yes sir," Ron muttered. "Sorry sir." Ron was starting to get the feeling this hero of Kim's didn't like him much.

"Now, to continue. After you are all issued your uniforms and standard equipment, you will proceed to the training courtyard. There you will be tested by some of the Academy's instructors and myself, and receive your rankings. The three ranks within Shinra Academy are First, Second and Third Class. First class is the highest Rank, and will be reserved for those of you already experienced in the ways of combat. Those of you who excel in the advanced first class training may even be inducted into Shinra Special Forces upon graduation. SOLDIER."

There was a little chatter about this among the audience. No one knew they were re-establishing SOLDIER.

"But worry not, even students ranked third class can graduate and join the army. There will be ample opportunities for advancement after graduation, but I expect every one of you to put everything into your training. Rufus said it right, it is a great destiny before each and every one of you. And as your General I expect you to earn it... Can I get a 'sir yes sir?'"

The crowd all saluted and shouted. "SIR YES SIR!!"

Cloud's smile was a tad wider this time and he nodded. "Good. You all have half an hour before you have to report to the main building for your medical diagnostic. Take this time to mingle with your fellow cadets and get to know each other. You're all going to be like family until graduation. That is all."

xxxxx

There was a lot of applause and salutes for the General as he stepped down from the stage and mingled with the cadets with the three people that had shared the stage with him. Kim turned and scowled at Ron, now that she was free to talk.

"Ron, what were you thinking?! He was trying to make a speech, that was so embarrassing!"

He looked nervously at his livid friend. "I... Uhhh..." Before he could come up with a comment though someone came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to address whoever it was, but gasped when he realized it was a very beautiful girl. "Woah!"

"Greetings. My name is Yori. And you are?"

"Uh... Stop-Ronald? Er... Ron! Ron Stoppable."

"Well Stoppable San, I feel obligated to say that your outbursts during the General's speech, were loud, inappropriate and buffoonish."

Ron pouted, but Kim just smirked smugly and folded her arms. "Thank you, Yori. You see Ron I wasn't the only one..."

"But I also found it very amusing," she giggled, giving Ron one of the warmest smiles he had ever seen. "I had been so afraid that my time at the Academy would bore me terribly! But it brings me such delight to know that there is at least one person who can bring laughter to my time here." She bowed at him. "Thank you Stoppable San."

"No, thank you Yori. And call me Ron San." Ron turned and smiled smugly at Kim this time. "Why can't you see the bright side like she can, Kim?"

"Maybe because I'm the one associated with you? Don't you realize how embarrassing that was for me?"

His smile fell again. "Come on Kim, I thought you'd be used to me embarrassing you by now."

"Maybe Ron, but we're not in high school anymore!"

"She's right you know," the man standing behind Kim agreed. "High school is behind you."

Kim spun around and her jaw nearly hit the floor when she found herself staring up at one of her heroes face to face. The General was flanked by Rufus and the other two that had been with them on stage.

"I... Um... Hi?" She shook her head and composed herself, then saluted. "I mean, hello General."

Cloud had a slight barely noticeable smile, but there was definite warmth to it. "You're Kim Possible."

She blushed. "Uh... You know me?"

"In a world like ours, where the lawless prosper, and crime is rampant. Those who stand up and fight for what is right really stand out. I was hoping you would come."

Her blush darkened, and she smiled. "Really? I mean all the stuff I do is really no big... Just helping people out here and there. A little monster slaying here... A cat out of a tree there..."

"Well I feel honored to have you at the Academy, Kim Possible. I will be expecting great things from you."

She smiled and saluted again. "The honor is mine General. And I won't let you down."

He nodded. "I have no doubt."

Ron smiled up at the General. "So if you know Kim, I guess you know me too, huh?"

Cloud's look became a little colder when he looked at the boy in sunglasses. "Yes," he said simply. "You're the one who kept interrupting my speech."

Ron went a little pale at first, but then he shook it off and pointed at Kim. "Yeah, but I'm also her sidekick."

Cloud glanced at Kim. "You have a sidekick?"

"Why doesn't anyone ever know about the sidekick?" he grumbled, before cheering up. "Awww, no big. I like to work in the background anyway. You know, behind the scenes!"

Yori seemed to find this amusing too and giggled.

Cloud just stared for a while then shrugged. "Okay."

Rufus stepped forward and offered Kim his hand, which she politely shook. "I would also like to personally welcome you here Cadet Possible. I sincerely hope that Shinra Inc can offer you all you need to help even more of Gaia's citizens."

She was just a little bit colder with Rufus, though the guy was probably used to it by now. "Um... Thank you Mister President."

As he often did, Ron decided to speak his mind without thinking. "Your name's Rufus right? You know, I have this naked molerat back home that I-OW!!"

Kim elbowed him in the ribs. "Icks-nay on the olerat-may," she hissed through clenched teeth.

Rufus looked at Ron curiously. "Sorry? What was this about a naked molerat?"

"It... Um... He's... Pink?" He gave the confused President a toothy grin.

Kim closed her eyes and sighed, while Yori started giggling again.

"Okay," Rufus said hesitantly. "That's nice... I guess... If you'll excuse us though, there are other cadets we would like to meet personally. Until later, Cadet Possible."

Rufus and Cloud both walked off, but left behind the two others that had been on stage with them. By now Kim and Ron both assumed they were a few of the instructors.

Ron sighed. "I don't think the General likes me."

"Do not worry," Yori said reassuringly. "I like you."

He smiled at her, and one of the people left behind by Cloud and Rufus stepped up. She was a pretty young girl, who looked about nineteen or twenty. She had black hair, wore a pair of black short-shorts and a dark blue tank top, and had what looked like a giant ninja star strapped to her back. There was a certain boisterous, perky quality to her demeanor, though there was a definite aura of strength about her too. She smiled at Yori.

"So Yori, I see you're quick to make friends as always."

Yori returned the smile. "Yes, cousin. As always." She addressed both Kim and Ron at this. "Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible? This is my cousin, Yuffie Kisaragi. She is the instructor for Wutai style Ninjitsu here at the Academy."

Kim smiled and shook the young woman's hand. "Hi. Pleased to meet you."

Yuffie frowned. "Oh come on! Surely you've heard of me?"

Kim stared blankly. "Um... Should I have?"

"I am the great ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi! I was one of the warriors who defeated Sephiroth and stopped meteor!"

She hesitated. "Um... Didn't Cloud do all that?"

Her frown deepened. "You don't seriously think he did all that on his own do you?!"

"Um... Yeah... Kinda... Maybe?"

"Oh wait a minute," Ron said, holding up a finger. "Aren't you the one who stole all Cloud's materia, or whatever?"

"Oh for crying out loud!"

"Oh yeah!" Kim said. "You're that Yuffie?"

"Why does everyone only every remember the materia thing?!" she ranted. "I fought Sephiroth, you know?! You have any idea how HARD it is to avoid an EIGHT FOOT LONG SWORD?! It ain't easy!"

Ron looked at Yori who was again giggling. "Is she always like this?"

"Oh yes," she whispered. "The fact that she is still remembered as more materia thief than hero is a very sore subject for her."

Ron smiled as he remembered something. "Oh wait a minute, I remember something else. You guys import the best spices down from Wutai. I spoke to the delivery guy a few times, who is totally hot for this woman back home. Called her things like the most beautiful flower in Wutai, and the fiercest and most graceful of warriors. Get him started on that subject and you can never shut him up. I think he said her name was Yuffie."

She gave Ron a skeptical frown. "Oh you're just trying to cheer me up."

"No seriously, he really said all this stuff. I'm pretty sure he was talking about you. Said something about her being the guardian of the pagoda too, whatever that means."

Yuffie's face lit up at this. "Hey that's me! I gotta say, flower of Wutai is much better than materia thief." She got this really arrogant smile on her face at this point. "But you can tell the lowly delivery boy to get in line. I have the most eligible men in Wutai lining up at my door."

Ron just smiled, glad he'd cheered her up. "Sure. I see Yoh again, I'll deliver the message."

"Wait did you say Yoh?" she asked, brightening even more. "Oooh, he's the yummy delivery boy... Too bad I'm stuck in this dump for the next year."

"He mentioned a pose a couple of times which you liked. Why don't you show us?"

Eagerly she obliged, pulling her Shuriken from her back, and started swinging her arms in slow exaggerated but admittedly graceful motions, as she moved with her weapon in a kind of martial arts dance as she shouted loudly. "I am the great ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi!" Then she got into her pose, holding her weapon above her head with one hand, her free arm to the side and one knee lifted high. "The flower of Wutai!"

She smiled widely at Ron and whispered, still in her pose. "I like that whole 'flower' thing, that has a nice ring to it."

Her attempts to look impressive really looked kind of ridiculous, but Ron still clapped. "Very cool." He looked up and saw a man standing behind Yuffie smiling with his arms folded and shaking his head. "And you are?"

He stepped forward and shook Ron's hand then Kim's. He was wearing a red suit and tie, with a black shirt. "I'm Reeve. I'm currently the acting Administrator of Shinra Academy."

"Oh, so you're kinda like the principal here, huh?" Ron asked.

Reeve smiled. "Something like that."

"Then I'm probably going to be seeing you a lot this year... Hey, do you have a pose too?"

He chuckled at that. "No. I'm not a moron."

Yuffie turned and glared at Reeve with an angry pout. "Meanie!" she snapped, sticking out her tongue. "Nerrr!"

This time Ron was laughing right along with Yori. Yuffie looked at Ron again, and smiled.

"I like him Yori. He's a keeper."

Ron sighed with relief. "Cool, this day is looking up. One of the instructors likes me. Good news after that whole fiasco with the General."

"Oh don't you worry about GENERAL Cloud. He can be such a jerk sometimes. But I've got your back."

She walked off with Reeve after this, then Yori smiled at him and whispered. "It was very kind of you to cheer up my cousin like that."

He shrugged. "No big. Cheering people up is one of the few things I'm good at."

"You have a big heart Stoppable San."

He blushed a little. "Thanks Yori. And call me Ron San."

"I couldn't help noticing your mention of Wutai's fine spices. We do indeed have some of the best in the world. Am I to assume that you cook?"

"Yeah. Another one of the few things I'm good at."

"Very good," Kim cut in.

"I'll cook you something sometime," he promised.

"I would like that," she whispered, before surprising him with a peck on the cheek. "... Ron San."

She walked off after that, and Ron just watched her leave with a blush on his face. Kim also watched with a slightest look of disapproval shining in her eyes.

"She's affectionate," she grumbled.

"Yeah," Ron said, smiling widely now. "I think I love this place!"

Kim folded her arms and without even realising it she started pouting. "Hmph!"

xxxxx

Shortly after Cloud and Rufus parted ways with Kim and Ron, the General felt someone tap him on his shoulder. He turned and was surprised who he came face to face with.

"Vincent? How long have you been here?"

"Some time, Cloud. I enjoyed your speech."

He smiled at him. Though the two had never been chummy by any stretch of the imagination, Cloud had always considered him to be a friend. "Have you reconsidered my offer? We could use a marksman with your skills on the staff here."

He spent a moment staring with those reddish brown eyes before answering. "I'll pass."

"Okay Vincent, that's your decision. But if it isn't about the job offer, what are you doing here?"

"Just came to offer some friendly advice," he whispered, nodding in the direction of something behind Cloud. "Keep a close eye on that one."

Cloud looked back on the students he had just been speaking to and smiled. "You mean Kim Possible? I plan too."

"Not the girl. Her friend."

This caused the expected confusion. "The loud kid in the sunglasses? He struck me as a bit of an idiot."

"Let's just say there's much more to him than first impressions might suggest. And he could use some guidance in the following year of training."

Cloud looked back at the kid in question, and tried to recall his name. Ron something. He was currently saying something to Yuffie that seemed to put a big smile on her face. Knowing Yuffie, she was probably getting her ego stroked if she was smiling like that.

"Okay Vincent," he said, still looking at Ron. "I'll keep that in mind. But what is it that..." He trailed off when he turned back to face him, and discovered he had vanished. He looked around the crowded hall in all directions and couldn't even catch a glimpse of the man's distinctive torn red cape. He was gone.

"I hate it when he does that."

xxxxx

To be continued...

Sorry for the ludicrously long wait, but I did promise I was going to finish this, and I will. I actually have eleven chapters finished, but tragically I'm pretty strict about making sure things a properly proof read, so that doesn't mean I'm going to be updating every day from now on. But as often as possible, I promise. I want to get this finished. Also, don't forget to drop me a review, they always help to motivate me that little bit more. The next chapter should be back soon.

-Jawelik 


	5. Chapter 4

Rebirth: Part 4 by Jawelik --

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Disney and Squaresoft. One or two minor characters may be mine, but most aren't.

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As instructed by Cloud, all new recruits reported to the main building in the Academy where the infirmary was located. There they were each given a full physical, to confirm physical fitness, health and all around suitability for life in the military. There were a few shots involved, and blood samples taken. And Ron was by far the biggest whiner. He was also the only cadet to come out of the physical, sucking on a lolly pop he had received for being brave.

"So Ron, whaddaya think?" Kim asked, finishing off her look by pulling on her blue cap, silver Shinra logo standing out.

Ron turned, and for some strange reason, his heart gave a little leap. "Lookin' good, KP!" A cobalt blue blazer coupled with a simple white t-shirt hugged her body, ending at her hips; baggy blue pants with polished black boots finished off her look. "You make military hardship stylish!"

"Thank you, thank you, I know. But um..." she said, looking at him, "... aren't those pants a little big, Ron?"

"Yeah, that's the -"

"Chicken leg syndrome," they both chorused.

"Jinx! You owe me a soda!" Kim shouted.

Once all the cadets were dressed they were bought out to the courtyard where a number of instructors were waiting. Standing up in front of them was the General, who waited until everyone gathered in front of him before speaking.

"Now is the time to rank each and every one of you. Each of you will be taken one by one, by myself or one of these instructors behind me, and your combat skills will be tested. For those of you with little combat experience, don't worry. This is mostly to evaluate how you handle yourselves in battle, our trainers won't be going all out. Each instructor will take an even portion of the crowd, and evaluate then rank their group."

Cloud divided up the cadets into several smaller, even sized groups, assigning each to an instructor. Kim and Ron managed to stay together, along with Yori. As Cloud was beginning to approach them though, his mako blue eyes connecting with emerald green, Yuffie swooped in, wrapping arms around the red-head and blonde, giving the General a cheeky look.

"Dibs on this group, General. Get your own."

Cloud kept his cool stare on the instructor, and raised an eyebrow. Letting out a small, imperceptible sigh, he turned to rope in another group, but his disappointment could be felt by everyone.

Ron could tell Kim was a little disappointed that she didn't get to spar with Cloud, but she got in line in front of Yuffie with the rest of her group without a word. The ninja pulled the giant Shuriken from her back and called up the first student. She sparred with several cadets, testing their strengths and gauging their weaknesses, then giving them stripes that signified their ranks. There were quite a few third class students that were pretty hopeless fighters, and a few Second Class who actually knew how to fight but weren't extraordinary in any way.

Then came Ron's turn, and Yuffie smiled at him sweetly. "Okay champ, draw that sword of yours and show me what you can do."

"O... okay," he stammered, nervously pulling his sword from his back, and holding it up in shaky hands. He had just seen this girl fight several students easily without breaking a sweat. So naturally he was tremendously intimidated.

Smiling wider she leaned in and whispered to him. "Calm down, okay Ron? I'll go easy on you, I promise."

Seeming to calm down a bit he steadied his hands, and got into a fighting stance with his sword held forward. But the moment Yuffie held up her own weapon, like she was about to strike, Ron dropped his sword and threw up his hands.

"I surrender!"

Yuffie frowned, and Ron heard Kim groaning with embarrassment behind him. He also heard Yori giggling again.

Ron aimed his sunglasses at the ground dejectedly. "Aw man..."

Yuffie smiled again and stepped forward. "So you're not good in a combat situation, big deal. We can work on that. Why don't I just step back, and you can show me what you can do with that sword?"

Ron looked at Yuffie, with a smile tugging on the edge of his lips. "Okay. I guess I can do that."

He picked up his sword, then started swinging it in some movements, which on first glance actually looked quite skillful. Gaining some confidence, he tried some harder moves, but froze when the sound of tearing fabric filled the air.

"Awww maaan! CAN I GET A NEW PAIR OF PANTS HERE, PLEASE?!"

Kim rolled her eyes, Yori giggled again and Cloud came up behind Yuffie to speak to her.

"So... Third Class?"

Yuffie nodded. "Definitely Third Class." She pulled a single blue stripe with white trim from her pocket and handed it to Ron. "Sorry Ron."

Still in smiley face boxers, he sighed as he took the stripe and attached it to the left sleeve of his shirt. "Its okay."

Ron walked up next to Yori, where he picked up his backpack to pull out the spare pair of pants. Yuffie however was now staring at the next cadet in line, and the cadet stared right back with a determined look in her green eyes. Wordlessly she unclipped two beautiful jade-metal daggers from either side of her belt and stepped forward.

The two girls spent a few moments just staring before Yuffie broke the silence. "You're up Possible."

XXXX

Both Yuffie and Kim were smiling at each other as they got psyched up for battle.

"Want me to go easy on you too, cadet?" Yuffie asked.

"I'd advise against it. Because I'm not going to hold back."

"Big deal," Yuffie scoffed. "Niether did any of the other cadets."

Both Yori and Ron stared with frightened looks, while the two opponents shared banter.

"Kim should be careful," Yori whispered. "Cousin Yuffie can be very competitive."

"That's not good," Ron said. "'Cause so can Kim."

They shared a glance then looked back at Kim and Yuffie again.

"This could get very ugly," Yori said.

Ron frowned. "Oh come on! How can two totally gorgeous girls fighting, get ugly? I mean seriously!"

Once again Yori was laughing, and she patted him on the shoulder. "Oh you and your jokes."

Both girls bent their knees and raised their weapons before Yuffie spoke again. "Okay Kimmie, you can have the first att..."

"HAAAHHH!!" Kim struck viciously with her daggers, and Yuffie barely lifted her Shuriken in time to block. Their weapons clashed with such force, that Yuffie was shoved backwards, the soles of her sneakers skidding over the hard dirt of the courtyard. She slid back several meters before stopping, then she looked up to her opponent with a glare.

"Why you little... THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT!!"

Kim smiled and shrugged. "Maybe. But I don't like being underestimated. Plus I always fight to win."

Yuffie glowered, and gripped her weapon tightly. "Yeah? Well SO DO I!!"

The two girls charged at each other, and in seconds metal was clashing against metal and sparks were flying. They were moving so fast while they slashed at each other that their images were blurring. Then after a few minutes of this, Yuffie went airborne; she jumped up a good thirty feet in the air and landed on the roof of the main building, staring down at Kim with a smile.

"Come back here!" Kim snapped jumping up after her. Within moments the two were jumping all over rooftops and the courtyard exchanging vicious blows in mid air, clearly evident that neither combatant was holding back. Needless to say, the fight drew the attention of every cadet and instructor, and the evaluations came to an abrupt end in favor of watching.

XXXXX

"I am impressed," Yori said, nodding. "Kim is holding her own."

"I'm actually impressed that Yuffie hasn't lost yet," Ron said with a shrug.

Yori turned to look at Ron with a surprised expression. "Are you serious? Yuffie Kisaragi is the finest warrior in all of Wutai!"

Ron looked back at her with a smile. "Maybe. But Kim Possible, she's... Kim Possible."

Clearly having a great deal of faith and respect for her cousin, Yori pursed her lips defiantly as the battle continued. "Fine! How about a friendly wager then? I will bet ten gil that Yuffie will be victorious."

Ron smiled. "You're on! Ten gil on Kim!"

"I wanna piece of that action," one of the students said from behind him, running up and shoving a note in his hand without asking. "I'll put ten on the instructor."

"Yeah, me too!" another cadet said enthusiastically.

Ron stood there nervously as he was soon surrounded by most every student shoving money into his hands, most betting for Yuffie, but a few bet for Kim. Within moments he was holding nearly 4000 gil in notes. He leaned over and nervously whispered to Yori.

"Uhhh... I suck at math. How am I gonna pay out after this is over?"

"Worry not, Ron San. I have a photographic memory. I will remember all the bets."

At that moment an angry voice spoke up from next to Ron. "I'm not certain of all the rules yet, but I think gambling within Academy walls is frowned upon." Ron looked up into the angry Mako eyes of General Cloud Strife and paled. "I do hope this is not going to become a habit of yours."

"I... I mean we..." he pointed to Yori. "Friendly wager... Then he was like, 'I wanna piece of that action!' And lotsa betting, arm load of cash... and... and... Photographic memory!" He pointed at Yori again. Once again he had the girl giggling.

Cloud frowned, then reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a note and threw it on the pile in Ron's arms. "I'll bet ten on Kim Possible."

Yori looked at the General. "Kim is the underdog. You are the fourth person to bet on her, and nearly two hundred have bet on Yuffie. If Kim wins, it will be very profitable for you."

"Make that five people," another cadet cut in, as he threw a note into Ron's arm load. "Ten on Kim."

Ron looked up to the cadet with surprise. "Josh Mankey?"

Josh looked back at him as if he didn't recognize him. "Who... Oh wait, you're that friend of Kim's, right? What was your name again? Randall?"

"Ron," he grumbled.

"Oh right," he said dismissively as he turned back to watch the fight.

Though Josh had always seemed like a pretty nice guy, there was something Ron just couldn't stand about him. He never could place it though. He was the most popular guy in school back in Middleton; one of only two people who could hold their own in a fight against Kim, not to mention Kim's first crush. Ron was a little disappointed to discover Josh was here but not at all surprised. He was a tough customer.

But ignoring him for now, he returned his attention to the fight. When he realized most everyone was cheering for Yuffie though, he cheered extra loud for Kim.

"GO KIM!! YOU KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS!! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!!"

XXXX

It didn't take long to the two combatants to realize that they had drawn an audience. Not that it stopped either of them from fighting though, both were a little too smart to allow themselves to be distracted in the middle of a battle. Kim though wasn't used to fighting in front of so many people, especially when most all of them were cheering for Yuffie. It wasn't usually something Kim had to worry about, and it was a little disheartening.

Yuffie connected with a powerful kick to the stomach that sent Kim flying into a wall. Kim shook her head to clear the stars, and her natural reflexes were the only thing that saved her from the huge blade of the shuriken blurring towards her chest. Black metal clashed with jade, as her daggers turned into her only defense.

This was not going to be as easy as Kim had thought. She had never expected her petite opponent could be so quick, agile and STRONG - her stomach was burning from the impact of her foot, and her arms were quickly getting numb from holding this deceptively small girl off. And she didn't even have any materia boost!

Yuffie grunted, but smiled, a bead of sweat trailing down from her brow and across her open eye. "Not bad, Possible," she said, increasing the pressure. "You put up a good fight. But maybe it's time you gave up. SAY! UNCLE!"

Kim had always thought she was strong for her size until she fought the likes of Yuffie Kisaragi. Of course, Kim's opponent did fight alongside Cloud and stayed alive against huge odds, so that meant that she wasn't just here as a hood ornament for the school. She just didn't realize that Yuffie would overpower her so quickly. The constant rumbling of Yuffie's name called out from the observers didn't do much for her confidence either. They loved her, they were cheering for HER, not Kim Possible, and for the first time in this fight, she didn't know if she could win... her arms were failing... and Yuffie's smile grew.

"GO KIM!! YOU KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS!! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!!"

That one lone voice cut through everything - the crowd, her fatigue and her weakening confidence, and Kim's arms didn't feel so rubbery anymore. So what if everyone was cheering for Yuffie; who cared what they thought? She didn't know them! She didn't need them to believe in her. Her best friend was cheering for her and he still had her back, like he always did. And like every other time, it filled her with a strength she didn't know she had. What else did she need?

Yuffie's smile wavered as Kim started to push back, and her daggers began to lightly flicker with a red haze.

"Possible, give it up! You can't win!"

Kim smiled, taking a more stable stance, fueled by Ron's whooping in the background. It was corny, but it worked. "Check my name, Kisaragi!" Quickly she shifted one of her daggers to another blade, giving her the leverage to twist it out of Yuffie's grip and sending it airborne. Yuffie blurred, leaping into the air to retrieve her shuriken and land several feet away.

Kim smiled, knowing what was going to happen and appeared right where Yuffie landed. With a suddenness that took Yuffie off guard, Kim knocked the hand holding her Shuriken to the side with a well placed swipe of her dagger. Then with her defenses wide open, the butt of Kim's other dagger's handle was slammed hard into the instructor's stomach. She doubled over, and barely had enough time to gasp before she had a knee lifted into her face so hard it sent her into the air.

Kim grabbed her opponent's ankle in both hands while in mid-air, and spun her around several times like a propeller before releasing her. The ninja flew long and fast into the opposite side of the courtyard, smashing the wooden wall there to smithereens. Kim had to give Yuffie props - the girl hadn't let go of her shuriken... yet.

Climbing uneasily out of the wreckage Yuffie rose up, wood chips falling off her, a thin stream of blood running from her nostril. She turned to spit, and smiled, her teeth tinted red, and her eyes blazing. "Holy crap, girl! That's one hell of a comeback! But is that all you've got?" Her body started to glow as the cheers hushed down to a stunned silence. The crowd all knew what was going to happen, but very few had ever seen it with their own eyes.

In times of battle, a properly trained warrior - when under the greatest strain, when facing the bleakest odds, when facing the strongest of opponents - their own energies, stemmed from desperation and aggression manifest themselves in the real world to be utilized for extraordinary things.

Yuffie Kisaragi was ready to unleash her Limit Break. "Ooh, you're gonna be hurting after this, girly!"

Another ripple went through to crowd as they saw a red streaks crawling across Kim Possible's body and centering over her daggers, which were glowing in response. Kim's ruby glazed eyes kept on Yuffie's golden ones. "You can TRY."

Two warriors - both at their peak, and both at their Limit Break... and it was only an evaluation! But apparently this little detail was forgotten by both fighters.

Yuffie's eyes never left Kim's as she crouched down, yellow energies caressing each and every blade of her oversized shuriken, strengthening it, pouring into it the essence of the wielder. With a sharp motion, she pulled back, and with a powerful underarm throw, released the blazing weapon, vertical to the ground, aimed straight for Kim. "Good fight, Kim, but this ends now."

Bathed in her own crimson energy, Possible remained steadfast in the face of the incoming attack. Gripping her daggers, she bends her knees and shoots off with inhuman speed, towards the blazing buzz-saw.

The crowd gasped as red met gold in the center of the arena, followed by a blinding light. It rapidly cleared, to show Kim Possible's daggers crossed, forging a red field that barely held off Yuffie's gargantuan attack. With each spin of the shuriken, slivers of golden light penetrated the red field and made tiny lacerations across her uniform, her torso, her legs, arms and her face. But Kim held strong under the onslaught.

Kim gritted her teeth, knowing she couldn't hold off this attack just defensively. Even with Ron, she was verging on exhausted, and pulled from deep inside herself. With a loud cry, she forced her unwilling arms skywards, launching the deadly shuriken away from her and into the clouds.

"Hey! That's an heirloom!"

In that moment, Yuffie knew three things. One - she was unarmed, her only weapon now in orbit (how was she going to explain this to her father?); two - Kim Possible had just averted her best attack. ; three - Kim Possible was heading straight for her, still with the faint light of Limit Break around her.

Yuffie, being the proud Wutai warrior she was, stood her ground and raised her fists, knowing how this was going to turn out. She was unprepared for the fact that in one instant, Kim was there, the next she was gone. The appearance of heat on her back told her what had happened, but before she could respond, her opponent grabbed her shirt and threw her up into the air.

Kim gauged the target, fed the waning powers of her Limit Break into her legs, and she leapt. Catching up to the bleeding and somewhat stunned ninja, Kim hit Yuffie in the midsection with the butts of her daggers with an explosion of the last of her Limit energy, sending her plummeting like a meteorite to the hard earth below. A plume of dust rose from Yuffie's impact, and everything was quiet.

Still in the air, Kim could barely register the fact that she was falling. All her training was useless with her body now out for the count. Thankfully it wasn't a long drop, so she allowed the pull of gravity to take her.

The crash was surprisingly soft, and she wondered if Ron had gotten a pillow or something...

"Ow," a voice wheezed from underneath her. "You beat me, wheeze! and now you LAND on me? Talk about kicking a girl wheeze! when she's down..."

Struggling out of the crater, she turns to Yuffie. "Yeah... well... I'm a... Possible. I... can do..."

"Whatever. Will you help me out of this? My arms are kinda wedged in here thanks to you."

After dragging Yuffie out, they supported each other and looked around at the silent audience. They immediately erupted in a drowning applause, yelling each of their names, but with Ron's voice making the loudest racket.

Lifting her eyes, she met the cold, ice blue eyes of Cloud looking over her in approval. But of course, no smiling involved. "You fought well."

"Thank you, sir."

His gaze switches to Yuffie. "So... First Class?"

Despite her obvious discomfort, she smiled and nodded. "Definitely First Class."

Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out stripes much like Ron's, only there were three conjoined as opposed to Ron's single one. "Congratulations, Kim Possible. You are the first cadet to achieve First Class ranking."

Smiling proudly she took the stripes and attached them to her left sleeve, before saluting. "Thank you General."

Nodding, he walked away from her with a few parting words. "I'll definitely be keeping my eye on you. Keep it up."

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and you and the instructor should report back to the infirmary. I don't want you bleeding all over my Academy." He gave a barely perceptible smile, which she returned.

"Yes sir."

XXXXX

Only five people had bet on Kim, so that made splitting the winnings easy. Especially with the apparent math genius Yori on his side. He had bet only ten gil and came out of it with close to eight hundred. After giving out the winnings, Yori smiled at him.

"I guess I am forced to concede, Ron San. Kim is definitely deserving of her reputation. I shall aspire to defeat her some day in the future."

"Well I'm sure Kim will welcome the challenge. She loves a good fight."

"Good. I should thank her, I have a reason to train very hard now." She smiled at Ron, and walked off towards the infirmary, that Kim was just leaving, but still apparently contained her cousin. "I shall see you later, Ron San."

Ron smiled back and nodded. "Look forward to it."

"You two seem to be getting awfully friendly fast," Kim commented as she approached.

Ron smiled at her. "Well, yeah. Yori is a friendly girl."

Kim's smile seemed forced. "I'll bet."

"Oh by the way Kim, I should thank you for winning that fight." He held up a thick wad of bills and showed them to his friend. "I made a killing!"

Kim looked at the money for a few minutes, then glared at Ron with her 'Judgemental face'. "You BET on my fight?!"

"Well... Um... It was just a friendly bet between me and Yori."

Again she looked at the cash in his hands. "That's a lot of money! How much did you bet?"

"Ten gil."

Her scowl darkened. "Explain."

He went on to tell her what had happened, with everyone betting, and her being the long shot. The explanation however failed to improve Kim's mood any.

He had a worried look on his face as his friend continued with the 'angry face'. "Come on Kim," he whined, holding up the money again. "I'm gonna give you half!"

"That's not the point Ron!" she snapped. "How many times do I have to remind you that this isn't high school! You have to be more responsible! And I'm pretty sure gambling is against the rules!"

"But the General bet too! On you!"

Her anger evaporated immediately, and a smile started tugging on her lips. "The General? Really? He bet on me?"

Relieved to be out of the line of fire, Ron smiled. "Sure did. I think he wants to give you half his winnings too."

Smiling widely now, Kim waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, he doesn't have to do that. He can keep it all."

"Cool! Does that mean I can keep all my winnings too?"

Her frown returned as quickly as it had disappeared. "No!" she snapped, holding out her hand. "Gimme!"

He pouted as he handed over half of his money. "Maaan."

"I think I'm gonna have a little shopping spree to celebrate my First Class ranking."

"Congrats on that by the way, Kim. Nice job."

"Thanks, Ron."

After everyone else had been tested and ranked, Kim's shopping plans were put on hold by the General when he made an announcement to all the cadets.

"Nice work, all of you. And congratulations to the twelve cadets who achieved First Class ranking today. Remember that your rank is not set in stone, there will be ample opportunities for advancement in the following year of training."

Among those twelve First Class cadets were Kim (of course) Josh and Yori, who were probably the three most extraordinary of the twelve.

"Now to get you used to the life of the soldier, you will be put straight into training tomorrow. And you will not be allowed to leave the Academy grounds for the next three months. Get used to the scenery, people, because this place is all you're going to be seeing for a while."

As usual Ron was the biggest whiner when it came to bad news. Kim wasn't exactly thrilled either though, she'd been looking forward to that shopping spree.

"You do have something to look forward to however. After the three months are done, you will each be given two weeks leave from the Academy. When you will be given the opportunity to visit family, have some fun or just unwind from the training. But until then, be prepared for a lot of hard work. For now though, head for the barracks, pick out a bunk and get aquainted with your bunkmates. I will see all of you out here tomorrow at 0600. That is all."

Ron smiled at Kim. "Hey Kim, when our leave comes, wanna hang out in Midgar for a few days before heading home to Middleton? We can go to that Final Heaven restaurant, then see more of the city together? We'll have a blast!"

Kim smiled back and nodded. "Good idea Ron. I'll look forward to it."

They started walking alongside each other then Ron asked a question. "Kim? Is 0600 like noon, or 6am? 'Cause I'm really hoping its noon."

Kim looked at her friend then wordlessly shook her head.

He frowned and folded his arms childishly as they continued to walk. "Maaan, that tanks!"

To be continued...

Sorry for the wait readers. My Beta Reader / Brother, decided the fight scene needed a complete rewrite. Which meant this obsessive compulsive writer needed to start the whole long proof reading process from the beginning. Can't deny that he was right about it though, I think the story is much better than it was. Hope you all enjoyed it.

As usual please review, its nice to hear what my readers think. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long. ) until then.

-Jawelik 


	6. Chapter 5

Rebirth: Part 5 by Jawelik

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Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Disney and Squaresoft. One or two minor characters may be mine, but most aren't.

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After that first day at the Academy was over, and the male and female barracks had been filled with cadets, the training began. Ron as usual showed up late on the first day, which earned him one hundred push ups. He managed to do ten before passing out.

He was a little upset to learn that many of his classes didn't involve Kim. Her higher ranking placed her under more advanced teachers, though there were times all the cadets trained together which Ron could spend with her. Unfortunately, as it turned out, he didn't spend much time with her in the following weeks, even during group training. She had quickly rekindled the romance she had shared with Josh Mankey in High School, and seemed to spend most of her time with him instead. It wasn't as if Ron didn't get any time with Kim at all, but he found himself spending more time with Yori. Not that that was anything to complain about.

Training in the Academy turned out to be a lot like high school. Ron as always only did just enough to get by, worked only as much as was required for him to stay in the Academy. While Kim simply thrived. The top of every class, and closely rivaled by both Josh and Yori, Kim quickly established herself as the Academy's best pupil. And a bit of a 'General's pet' too.

Cloud seemed to take a real interest in Kim's training, and had taken her under his wing. They were often seen in the main courtyard together sparring. Kim was no match for the General, but he had a lot to teach and she was eager to learn. Everyone already knew that she was a shoe in for SOLDIER when she graduated, and in time she was being referred to as the General's protege. There were also quite a few inappropriate and totally unfounded rumors about a romance between two, which Ron was quick to stifle. If there was one thing he was good at, it was protecting his friend; be it from a giant laser cannon, a cruel fellow cheerleader, or even a nasty rumor. They may not have been tight as they were when they first arrived, but he wasn't about to let anyone bad mouth her. She was still his best friend after all.

Yori was also excelling, and had more than a few eligible young cadets vying for her attention. But she seemed content to spend most of her free time with Ron, talking to him and laughing at his jokes. She always had wise words of encouragement for him, which often kept him from getting depressed. He came to truly value her friendship and kindness, but never even thought of starting anything romantic with her.

Besides, Ron's logic was that a beautiful girl like Yori, who had her pick of pretty much any guy she wanted, shouldn't have to settle for a guy like him. He knew how wonderful it was to have a good friend, and he was happy with that for now. So Ron stayed just friends with Yori, and she respected that. Even though at times she seemed to want to take things further.

The first three months passed soon enough, and their two weeks leave almost seemed to come out of the blue. But as always Ron was anxious for some real time off, just like he was about vacation time from school back home. He had been planning for months now, and he knew that he and Kim were going to have so much fun. Though there was a small complication when Yori came up to him, a few days before their leave began.

"Ron San. I shall be returning home to Wutai for my two weeks, and I would be honored if you accompanied me."

Ron smiled. "Wow. Wutai? Really? I've always wanted to go there." But his smile fell. "Wait. No, I can't..."

"I realize you have a family that you wish to visit. But I only ask that you stay for a few days, so I can show you my home. I want you to meet my Sensei and my twin brother. Then we can go to Middleton together and..."

"Yori... Listen, I'm really sorry. But I made plans with Kim on our first day at the Academy. We're going to stay in Midgar for three days before going home to Middleton."

Yori's smile fell, and her attempts to hide her disappointment failed miserably. "Oh... I see..."

"I mean if you want, you can come with. The more the merrier, you know. Then I can..."

"No," she whispered. "My bus tickets are for two days from now. If I stay, I cannot go home. And I miss my brother... My sensei."

"Aw man. This really tanks! I would love to go with you Yori, I really would. But me and Kim have had this planned for months, I can't cancel on her. I'm sorry."

Yori leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. It is something she would do occasionally, and Ron could never help but like it. "I understand, Ron San. You must keep your word to your friend. It is the honorable thing."

He looked into her sad eyes, then smiled warmly. "I'll miss you."

He felt happy when he saw her frown give way to a smile. She leaned in again, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. "I will miss you too, my friend."

XXXXX

Two days later everyone was packing, and Ron prepared for his first day out with Kim. First though he walked Yori to the bus out of town, and said goodbye. He received a hug, and another one of those very enjoyable cheek kisses as a reward before she climbed onto the bus and drove off.

Ron headed straight back to the Academy from there and found Kim in the courtyard. He ran up to her with an excited smile.

"Are you ready for the most fun you've ever had in you life, KP? I am so totally PSYCHED!"

Kim stared at him blankly. "Ron? What are you talking about?"

His smile fell. "You know. We're going to have lunch at that Final Heaven restaurant, then gonna spend a few days in Midgar. We agreed to do it on our first day here."

Now she looked shocked. "Oh. We did, didn't we? I'm sorry Ron, I totally forgot."

"Its okay, Kim. I have everything planned out, you don't have..."

"Josh got some tickets to the Golden Saucer and invited me. And... I kinda said yes."

He froze. "Wow... The Golden Saucer huh? Tickets to that place don't come cheap." The Golden Saucer was by far the biggest source of entertainment on the planet. For the most part it was a casino/amusement park. Pretty much, if it was fun, you could do it there.

"I'm sorry Ron, I really did forget, and we're leaving soon... Didn't I tell you? I was so sure..."

"Don't let it get to you Kim. I mean you have to go, its the Golden Saucer! No way can you pass that up."

"But what about you? You seemed so excited about the leave."

He waved his hand at her dismissively, despite the fact that he was feeling pretty hurt that she'd forgotten him... Again... "Nah. Actually it works out great. I've been missing my mom like crazy, this means I can go back home three days earlier and surprise her. Might drop in on your folks too."

"Really Ron? You're okay with this? Because I can cancel with-"

"Don't say another word!" he interrupted, forcing out words he didn't mean. "Its cool, ok? Really."

She hesitated, then smiled. "Ok Ron. Say hi to my parents for me." She started to run, but paused and turned back to add something final. "Just don't tell my father that I'm with Josh at the Golden Saucer."

"Worry not KP. As far as your father is concerned, you're there with a bunch of girlfriends."

"Thanks Ron. I can always count on you." She turned and continued to run off.

Once she was out of sight, Ron pulled the bus ticket home out of his back pocket and looked at it with a frown. It was scheduled to leave in three days. So there was no going home early. Part of him told him that he should have let Kim cancel on Josh. She'd made plans with him first anyway. But he didn't want her to miss out on the Golden Saucer because of him. They'd both been wanting to go since they were kids.

Sighing he stuffed his ticket back into his pocket, then headed for the exit to the Academy. At least he could still go to that restaurant he had heard so much about. His leave could still be salvaged, at least a little bit. Even if he didn't have his best friend to share it with.

XXXXX

While he headed to the restaurant, he found himself becoming angry. How could she forget about their plans? She had been spending all that time with Josh, and it was so unlike her to forget a commitment. That was more Ron's thing. It was all that pretty boy's fault!

Sighing, he allowed himself a moment to calm down. It wasn't Josh's fault. Ron and Kim had had so little time together over the last three months, and it hadn't even occurred to him to confirm their plans. But damn, if he'd approached Kim fifteen minutes earlier, if he'd known, he could be on his way to Wutai now with Yori. That was a whole lot more appealing than spending three days alone in Midgar... Hell, if he was completely honest with himself, he had actually been a little tempted to blow off Kim to take Yori up on her offer.

And again he started to get angry. He should have blown her off, its not like she did any different. Before he knew it, he was sitting down on a stool at the bar of Tifa's Final Heaven and still fuming. He barely realized that he had come in, and didn't even stop to look around like he often would when entering a new restaurant. The chef in him always liked to scrutinize the atmosphere, which could often be very important to the enjoyment of a good meal. The chef in him wasn't in at the moment however.

With his chin in his hands, he sat at that bar just going over everything in his mind. Not knowing whether to be angry at Kim, himself, or that pretty boy who kept calling him Randall! I mean, SERIOUSLY his name is RON, is that really so hard to remember?!

"So. What'll it be, cadet?"

He looked up to the lady behind the bar, who had just managed to startle him out of his stupor. Her calling him cadet made him realize that he was still wearing his Shinra uniform. Had become so accustomed to putting it on every morning, he didn't even think about putting on his civillian clothes for his leave.

He stared at the woman. She was a very pretty brunette, with long hair that hung down to the back of her knees, and big warm brown eyes. His eyes were drawn a little lower, and he realized her eyes weren't the only things that were big. Wow! They were really REALLY big!

"Hey! My eyes are up here, champ!"

He looked up suddenly into the woman's now scowling brown eyes, and he started to turn bright red. What the hell was wrong with him?!

"Oh man! I am so sorry! Really! I mean, its a total hormonal teenager thing, and... I... My best friend's a girl and I should really know better!" He stood up off the stool and put his face into his hands. "Aw man, I am such an idiot! As if if my day isn't bad enough, now I offend the lady in the restaurant I've been wanting to come to for years!"

He paused and looked apologetically at the woman. "Look. I'll just go, okay? I'm really sorry." He turned and walked dejectedly towards the door. But stopped when she called out from behind him.

"Hey. Sit back down, okay?"

He turned and looked at her. She didn't look angry anymore, but she wasn't smiling either. Still trying to decide whether he has a total creep or not, probably. "You sure?"

"Yeah. For now. I'm not a woman that turns away paying customers anyway."

He sat down, and looked at her in the eyes. "Thanks."

"So. How about a fresh start?"

He smiled and took a line out of Kim's book. "Please and thank you."

"Okay. So I'll ask again. What'll it be?"

"You have a menu?"

She reached under the bar and handed him a simple red cardboard menu. 'Tifa's Final Heaven' was written in fancy black script across the front. He opened it up, and started to read.

"So. Bad day huh?"

He looked up from the menu and back into her eyes. "Yeah. Kinda."

"Wanna talk about it?"

He gave her a confused look. "You in the habit of talking to strangers about their bad days?"

She shrugged, and she finally smiled. It was nice. "Well, I am a bartender."

His eyes lowered for a moment as he considered her offer, then looked up to her eyes again. "To be honest, I'd rather forget all about it."

She nodded. "Fair enough. How about you tell me about what you said before then? About wanting to come to my restaurant for years?"

"Yeah... Well I read this article from one of my favorite food critics."

"You read the ONE article written about my restaurant?"

"Yeah. He covers all the lesser known, out of the way places. Really knows his stuff too. I have a whole list of places I want to come to try the food, and this place is right near the top."

Her smile widened, and he smiled back. Bad first impression apparently forgiven and forgotten. She held out her hand, and he shook it.

"I'm Tifa."

"Ron. Ron Stoppable. Pleased to meet you, Tifa."

XXXXX

After ordering one of her fancier dishes, which she very seldom got to make for customers, Ron and Tifa quickly found they had something in common. Their passion for food and cooking. After some time talking and getting acquainted, she became curious about many of the recipes he discussed, and decided to allow her into her most sacred of sanctums. She allowed him into her kitchen.

As it turned out, he was a genius when it came to food. Never had Tifa met someone who's cooking skills rivaled her own. And he was a total sweetheart to boot. But at one point she saw him working on one of his creations, and frowned.

"What are you making?" she asked, cringing.

"Taco meets Nacho. I call it the Naco."

"I call it gross beyond reason."

"Don't knock it till you try it, Tifa."

She did try it, and had to admit, if begrudgingly, that it was really good. It turned out that the two of them spent hours experimenting in the kitchen, and exchanging cooking tips, and generally having a great time together. The restaurant was never very busy, and even if a customer did come in, having Ron in the kitchen could only be a good thing. Soon her table was piled up with food, and the two were still cooking. Tifa was working on one of her favorite dishes, quite looking forward to seeing what someone with Ron's palette thought of it.

"Ron? Could you go over there and grab the paprika from the spice rack please?"

He walked across the kitchen, and spoke as he walked back. "Hey, these are Wutai spices. They're the best."

"Yeah. I have a friend from Wutai. She brings them down here, and I let her eat for free."

"Sweet deal. I actually have a few friends from there t..." He froze when he glanced at a framed photo he hadn't noticed before. "... Hey! That's Aeris!"

Dropping the spoon she was stirring with, she looked at Ron with shock. Then she ran up to look at the photo herself, just to make sure he was talking about the same Aeris. It was a photo that had been taken years ago, shortly before Aeris' death. At the Golden Saucer, her and Tifa had spent some time together, and had a lot of fun. The photo was of the two of them, an arm over each other's shoulders, laughing. They may have had an unspoken rivalry over Cloud, but they were also close friends.

She grabbed Ron's shoulders and smiled widely. "You knew Aeris?! How?! Tell me everything!"

He looked really startled by her enthusiasm. "Um... I..."

"Come on Ron! Tell me! She was my friend!"

"Well I don't really know her... I just kinda had a dream about her. Shortly before me and Kim came to Midgar, actually."

She hesitated. "A dream?"

"Yeah. Me and Kim were fighting this totally freaky monster, and I blacked out. Then I dreamed about her... Sorry to get your hopes up Tifa. It was just a dream."

"What was the dream about? Tell me!"

"Um... We were in a field of flowers. And she said she had to warn me about something."

"About what?"

"I... don't remember... What does it matter anyway, it was just a dream."

"No Ron, it wasn't. Aeris wasn't a normal girl, she was the last of the Cetra!"

He stared blankly. "Cetra?"

"The Ancients Ron, you've heard of the ancients right?"

He nodded. Everyone had heard of the Ancients. The Nomadic race that had lived in harmony with nature thousands of years ago. A good many of their ruins were now popular tourist attractions.

"Well she died three years ago..." She started to look sad. "Killed by Sephiroth..."

"Sephiroth killed her? How could anyone do that?! I mean she seemed so... nice... I got a good feeling from her the moment I saw her, how could... Argh, why am I so angry?"

"She was a wonderful person Ron. And the Cetra do not end at death. She has communicated with a few of us in the past from her place in the planet. If you had a dream about her, it must've been important... But why did she contact you? Did you know her before the dream?"

"Um... No..."

"Well try and remember what she told you. You have to, Aeris doesn't contact the living lightly. And in the past it has always been someone she knew in life. Mostly Cloud."

"The General?"

"We were all friends."

"General Brooding Grumpypants?"

Tifa stifled her laugh. "I would tell you off for that comment, if it weren't oh so true. But try to focus Ron."

"Okay... I really don't remember much..."

"Did she mention Cloud? Or any other names?"

"No... She seemed worried... about me..."

"You?"

"Yeah. Said I'd be tempted to do something bad. That I needed to remember at all costs what she was about to tell me."

"And what did she say?"

"It didn't get that far. Kim woke me up before she could tell me."

"And you haven't dreamed about her since?"

He shrugged. "Nope. Was kinda face down in a mako lake the only time she contacted me."

She stared, shocked. "A mako lake? How did you wind up in a mako lake?"

"Very long story."

She paused, then snatched the sunglasses off his face before he could stop her.

"Hey!" he snapped.

"I was wondering why you never took these off."

"Tifa give 'em back! Don't look!"

She took his chin then lifted it so she could look into the soft blue glow of his mako eyes. "They suit you. You don't need glasses."

He took the glasses back and clipped them back onto the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, well I like my glasses."

"So that's all you remember about your dream?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. But I think its important. If you dream about her again, tell me or Cloud, okay?"

He smiled now. "I think I'd rather tell you."

"Can't say I blame you," she giggled. "Cloud can take a while to warm up to people."

"He warmed up to Kim plenty fast."

"Did he now? Do tell."

XXXXX

From there the two of them continued their cooking together. Ron told Tifa stories from his last three months in the Academy, and Tifa shared a few choice stories about Cloud. In time they were cooking with their backs to the bar, laughing together.

"The General? In a dress? Are you serious?!"

"Uh-huh," Tifa giggled. "Pretty blue thing, blonde wig. He can be quite graceful when he wants to be too."

He laughed even louder now. "Man, that is got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard!"

"You want to hear something really funny? That Corneo guy actually picked him out of the three of us."

He looked absolutely stupefied. "He had a pick of you, Aeris and General Strife, and he picks the dude? Duuude!"

"Well... I have to admit he looked pretty cute in that dress. And went a little overboard trying to make a convincing woman, accessorizing, sexy perfume... You know."

Again Ron was laughing. "Who would've thought Shinra's almighty General was such a talented cross dresser-he's standing right behind me isn't he?" His whole body went totally rigid.

Tifa turned and looked to the particularly pissed off looking man standing at her bar. "Well what do you know... Hi Cloud."

Ron turned and looked at his superior with a totally mortified look on his face. He offered a hesitant salute. "Um... Hello General, sir."

He glowered at both the woman and her new friend. "Tifa? What have I said about never telling that story to anyone, ever?"

She smiled innocently and shrugged, though Ron still looked like a guilty murderer on trial. "It's a good story."

Giving up on Tifa he turned his full glare onto Ron. "Do I even need to tell you, Stoppable?"

He swallowed again. "Never tell anyone that story ever? Sir?"

Still scowling, he nodded.

In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Ron held up a plate and offered it to the man across the bar. "Naco?"

He looked at the offered meal for a moment, before he was startled by the angry voice of a man entering the restaurant behind him. "Well, well, well, if it ain't General Sellout!"

Rolling his eyes, Cloud turned to the very large dark skinned man, who seemed to have a cybernetic hand. "Hello Barret."

"Don'chu 'hello' me, you Shinra servin' piece o' crap!" With one hand he grabbed the front of Cloud's shirt and shoved him up against the nearest wall. "After all Shinra did, I can't believe you're still with those slime! Thought you'd come to your senses by now! But I guess once a Shinra, always a Shinra!"

Cloud glared into the eyes of the man holding him up against the wall. "We've been over this Barret. This isn't the same Shinra Inc."

"You mighta bought into Rufus' lies, but not me!"

"I don't trust Rufus any more than you. But what better way to keep an eye on him than from the inside? And I'm doing a lot of good too, we could use your..."

"Don't you even THINK about tryin' to recruit me, jackass! There's a better way, than working for that man and his company!"

Cloud's scowl became considerably more hostile now. "Another way? Like what? Blow up a few buildings, killing some innocent people in the process maybe? That's your solution for the Shinra if I recall."

Growling, his metal hand clenched into a fist and he prepared to punch the General in the face with it. "Why you little..."

Ron was over the bar in less than second and grabbed the metal hand. Barret turned and looked at him then glared hatefully at the uniform he was wearing.

"Dude! Why don't we ease up on the violence? We can all sit down, and discuss this over a Naco like gentlem-UNH!!"

The metal fist meant for Cloud's face was slammed hard into Ron's instead. "Get your hands off'a me, Shinra scum!"

Ron was thrown back, his head hit the bar hard and he groaned miserably.

"HEY!" Tifa screamed. Like lightning she was over the bar, and like Ron she grabbed Barret's metal hand. Unlike Ron though, she twisted it hard and turned the man to face her.

"Ow, ow, ow! Tifa what the hell-UNH!!"

Her knee was lifted hard into his stomach, then she punched him hard in the face three times with her very powerful right fist. Barret was on the ground in seconds, with a sore stomach a bloodied face, and the mother of all shocked expressions.

"Tifa?"

"That's the final straw, you big stubborn bone-head! It's one thing to come in here and pick a fight with Cloud! I'm used to that! But to assault this poor kid, who's proven to be nothing more than a total sweetheart all day, that's going too far. Now GET OUTTA MY BAR!"

"But... But he's a Shinra... I..."

She gave him her scariest glare, and pointed to the door. "I said OUT! NOW!"

That look was enough to frighten any man into submission. He was soon on his feet and running out the door like a frightened puppy with his tail between his legs. Her angry look fell from her face almost instantly after he was gone, and was replaced by a look of worry when she knelt down next to Ron, who was still lying dazed on the floor, his head up against the bar.

"Ron? Are you okay?"

He looked up with dazed Mako eyes. Seems his glasses had fallen off. "Did... anyone get the license plate number of that... metal hand?"

Cloud knelt down next to Tifa, and looked at Ron in the eyes, holding up three fingers. "Stoppable? How many fingers do you see?"

"Mom? Is that you?"

Cloud growled.

"You cut your hair, Mom... I don't like it. Too spiky."

"I'm not your Mom!" he snapped.

He started tearing up. "Y...you're not? You mean I'm adopted?! Mom, why didn't you tell me?!"

"Stoppable! Get a hold of yourself!"

"How could you not tell me?!" he wailed. "All these years and you wait until-OW!!"

Cloud slapped him across the face in an attempt to get him back to his senses. "Get a hold of yours-OW!!"

He was shocked when Tifa slapped him twice as hard. "Don't you hit him, he's been hit enough!"

"But..."

Ron looked from Tifa to Cloud before cutting the General off. "Where'd the big scary guy go?"

"Don't you worry about that big bully, Ron," Tifa soothed.

"Okay." He rubbed his sore chin, and Tifa helped him up to his feet, before he paused and asked a question. "Um... Was my mother just here?"

Cloud frowned again, but Tifa just giggled. "No Ron. Just us."

XXXXX

Ron stuck around long enough to eat with Tifa and Cloud, before he was ordered to head for the infirmary in the Academy to make sure he was okay. Later on Cloud and Tifa were sitting together alone at the bar, sharing a drink.

"So. Any reason you were sharing my most embarrassing story with a complete stranger today?"

"Not really a stranger anymore. He spent the whole day cooking with me in the kitchen."

He choked on the mouthful he had taken from his drink, before forcing it down. "You let him in your kitchen?! You never let ME in your kitchen!"

"Well unlike you, he actually knows how to cook. And he knows how to have fun doing it too. I think I've found myself a kindred spirit today. I don't beat up Barret for just anyone, you know."

"Yeah. I know."

"On the subject of Ron though, I really think you should keep an eye on him."

He glanced at her. "You're the second friend to tell me that. Vincent came to the orientation on the first day, and said the same thing."

"Well you might want to take that advice."

He looked down into his glass and nodded thoughtfully. "You know, I did at first. But over the last three months that kid has been rubbing me the wrong way. Ever since my speech on the first day, he has proven to not only be a total slacker in all his classes, but the military version of a class clown."

"Cloud!"

"Let me finish. I've been personally training his friend Kim Possible. And I haven't been able to figure out what she saw in him. To be honest for quite a while I was thinking that he was unworthy of her friendship... But today... He didn't even hesitate to get between Barret and me... And he said it right, Barret is a big scary guy... All this time I've been judging him on his performance in class... Never even occurred to me that he was simply a nice guy."

Tifa smiled. "The nicest."

He smiled back. "And I have to admit, that Naco thing was delicious!"

Tifa giggled. "Agreed. I think I'll add it to the menu."

Cloud nodded, then used an expression he'd heard Ron, and occasionally Kim use over the past three months. He wasn't sure what it was that made him say it, it just seemed appropriate. "Booyah."

XXXXX

To be continued...

Okay, finally done. Been having a few small creative differences with my BETA reader / Brother, but nothing too major. He's a bit pickier than I am, which is often good in a BETA reader. But I'm not about to change entire chapters to suit his tastes. So in some cases I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. He does help point out some bad habits of mine, and I think in the long run, his advice is definitely going to improve my writing over all.

That's where you readers can help me out. If their are any common 'annoying mistakes' I make that may make my writing less enjoyable to read, please point them out. I appreciate your criticism, because it helps me improve. So leave me a review and tell me how you enjoyed it. Should have the next chapter ready within a week or two. Thanks for reading.

-Jawelik 


	7. Chapter 6

Rebirth: Part 6 by Jawelik --

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Disney and Squaresoft. One or two minor characters may be mine, but most aren't.

--

The Golden Saucer was quite possibly Gaia's greatest modern wonder. A veritable city, built atop thousands of massive metal pillars, in the center of an impassable desert. One of the only ways to get there was with the longest cable car ride you were ever likely to take. The whole place was built to cater to the entertainment and enjoyment of its patrons in a way no other place ever had done before. Everywhere you turned there was something to do; there was something for everyone.

It had even developed its own culture since being established, and used its own currency GP instead of the world's standard gil. Those that lived there had a slight drawl to their accents, and were mostly known to be very business savvy. Those who didn't know how to run a business or handle money, didn't usually stay living there for long. People like that were generally patrons. Many of whom had been known to enjoy the place so much that they stayed for months on end, a good number going bankrupt before finally leaving. It was known far and wide as the most fun place in all of Gaia.

So not. At least in Kim Possible's case. But towards the end of her second day there with Josh, she ran into an old friend from high school and things started to look up. Both were so excited to see each other they screamed and ran at each other, then jumped into a hug together, jumping up and down like giddy children.

"Monique! I can't believe this, its so great to see you!"

"Not as good as it is to see you, girl! Talk about a small world!"

They immediately started talking excitedly to each other, but were interrupted by Kim's date.

"Um... Kim? Are we still going on that gondola ride?"

She glanced in his direction as if she'd forgotten all about him, then hesitated. "... Josh? Is it okay if we make a rain check? I haven't seen Monique in like forever, and would love a chance to get in a little girl talk."

He paused, and said something that didn't seem all that sincere. "Well... Okay then... Nice to see you again by the way Monique."

She smiled at him politely. "Likewise, Josh."

"How about you go and make a few more bets at the Chocobo races?" Kim suggested. "I bet you could kill some time there."

Josh's mood improved instantly. "Good idea, Kim. When you've finished with your friend, you'll find me there." Then without so much as a goodbye, he was gone.

They spent a few moments watching him walk off, then turned and smiled at each other.

"So," Monique said, cheerfully. "Smoothies?"

"Please and thank you."

XXXXX

The two were soon sitting in one of the Golden Saucer's many diners sipping on some admittedly good fruit smoothies. They exchanged a few words of gossip before Monique asked a question.

"Where's Ron at? He around here too?"

Kim stopped drinking and paused, a barely noticeable sadness shining in her eyes. "No. He went straight back home to Middleton from the Academy."

Monique stared. "You came to the Golden Saucer without Ron?"

"Yeah... Josh invited me, and I've always wanted to come... But so has Ron... I didn't remember that until we got here."

"You missin' him, huh?"

"Well... Yeah. I guess so. I mean he is my best friend after all."

She nodded thoughtfully, then decided to change the subject. "What's it been like here with Josh?"

"Oh he's been really sweet. You know taking me to all the shows, every meal is by candle light. We stand out on the balcony and watch the fireworks every night..."

Monique smirked. "Sounds romantic."

"Yeah. It SOUNDS romantic. But in practice... To be honest... I'm kinda bored outta my skull here."

"Bored? At the Golden Saucer? Is that even possible?"

"I know Josh is trying to be charming and romantic. But everything he does is so..."

"Boring?" Monique hazarded.

"Un-original. I mean if I was here with Ron, he'd be humiliating me by dragging me in the lines for every kiddie ride in the place. When all I'd want to do is the mature stuff me and Josh have been doing... But when it really comes down to it, I sometimes really want to go on those kiddie rides. I mean at least the rollercoaster!"

Monique almost choked on a mouthful of smoothie, before forcing it down. "Josh hasn't taken you to the rollercoaster?! That's like one of the most fun things here!"

"He seems more interested in the chocobo races," she mumbled, a little sourly. "You know I enjoy making a bet on the big dumb looking birds as much as the next person, and hope that mine wins... But I don't wanna stay there doing it for hours! I know Josh is a really nice guy, but I think he has a bit of a gambling problem."

"Have you tried the Battle Arena? Now I know that's something you would like. And with Josh being a fighter too..."

"Yeah. We tried it. I thought it would be a blast, me and him, fighting monsters side by side. Racking up points and winning prizes."

"But?"

"He... He didn't fight with me. He seemed more interested in racking up points for himself. Almost seemed to be trying to out do me. And I don't think he was happy about me scoring higher than he did either. He didn't say anything about it, but he's been in a bit of a mood ever since."

"Can't take you being better than him, huh?"

"I'm not better than him, Monique. I'm not better than anyone... But come to think of it, I don't think he likes that the General spends more time training me than him either. I... really miss Ron."

"Yeah? Think you'd have more fun with him?"

"I dunno. Probably. At least he's original. And I think he'd be happier in the chocobo petting zoo, than at the races. Matter of fact, I'd probably like to go there too..."

"Word, girl! Those things are so cute when they're fluffy little chicks!"

"Me and Ron have wanted to come here since we were little. And now that I think about it, the reason I always wanted to come so much was because he was always so psyched about it... I... shouldn't have come here without him... My first time here should have been with Ron."

"Maybe you could make it up to him?" Monique suggested.

She brightened a little. "Yeah. I'll save up, and the next time we get leave from the Academy we'll come here together."

"Sounds like a plan. Write me a letter, and I'll meet you guys here."

Now she seemed to have cheered up greatly. "Will do, Monique."

XXXXX

Back in Midgar, Ron managed to make the most of the time he was stuck there. Tifa was quick to snatch him up as a short term employee, and even gave him a spare room to sleep in. He also hit it off right away with the little girl who lived with Tifa in her restaurant. Which surprised Tifa, who said Marlene was usually very shy with strangers. But she had walked right up to Ron, and started talking to him like she'd known him for years.

Barret also made a second appearance, and apologized to Ron for punching him. Unfortunately for the big man, his twelve year old daughter overheard his apology, and lectured her father for hours over punching her new freind. It didn't take long at all for Ron and Barret to strike up a quick freindship though, despite the very bad first impressions. Ron was a forgiving guy.

The day his bus was due to arrive, he had a bunch of new freinds to see him off. Despite protests from Ron, Tifa forced him to take some money for his days of work at her restaurant, with a nice juicy bonus for the Naco recipe. Turns out the new menu item had become an instant hit with most of Tifa's regular customers; particularly Barret who was known to eat several at a time.

After a hug and a kiss from Marlene, some hair ruffling from Barret, and a hug from Tifa, Ron was on his way home. Where he received a good many more hugs and kisses from his mother.

"Oh my baby's finally home!" she wailed between kisses. "You don't have to go back honey, the military life is not for you! Just stay here with mommy!"

"Mom! Unh! Ease up on the kissing for a second, okay?! Geez!"

She stopped kissing, but didn't stop the bone crushing hug that threatened to squeeze the air out of his lungs. "Mom... I'm going back... I've made lots of new friends. And Kim's doing really well too. You know I always have to have her back."

She pulled out of the hug, then held his face in her hands and smiled as she looked into his eyes. "You do, don't you? You've always been such a good friend to that girl, baby. I don't think she realizes how lucky she is to have you."

He spent most of his next day with his mother, who had cooked all his favorite foods in anticipation of his arrival. He also stopped in on Kim's parents, where he was force fed more food by her mom. Then he was given the interrogation treatment by her father, who demanded to know about every male that had so much as looked in his daughter's general direction. James Possible came out of the interrogation, thinking not only was Kim too busy training for any boys, but that every guy in the place was hideously ugly, and had no other appealing qualities whatsoever. As long as he thought his little Kimmie-cub was safe from boys, Dr Possible would gladly believe anything.

The following day, Kim arrived home from the Golden Saucer. Ron was the first person she hugged, and after a short meal with her family, they were both out on the town together. Ron didn't know why, but she seemed to be going through some kind of fun-withdrawal, and was going into overdrive trying to make up for it. What he couldn't figure out though, was that she had just returned from the Golden Saucer. The most fun place on Gaia! Who came back from there with fun-withdrawal?

He didn't care to ask though. If Kim wanted fun, he'd give her fun. The next week and a half were just like old times, just Ron and Kim. Best friends, having a blast together wherever they went. It was almost disappointing when their leave was coming to an end. They jumped on a bus to Midgar together, but as usual it didn't take long for Ron to get in trouble once they both got back to the Academy.

XXXXX

Shortly after every cadet arrived back, the leave was officially bought to an end and the main gate to the Academy was sealed tight. Everyone was once again confined to their training. Soon after the gates closed, Ron was reunited with Yori, who ran up and hugged him tightly.

"I have missed you so much, my friend!" she said, happily.

He gladly returned the hug. "Yeah, Yori. Ditto."

Pulling out of the hug, she reached back and took something out of her back pack. "Here. I bought you back a gift from home."

"Yori, you didn't have to do-woah, spices! Man, these things cost a fortune, and there are so many!"

"They are quite cheap back home."

"What an awesome gift! This is so great, Yori, but... I... Awww maaan, I didn't even think to get you anything! I am such an inconsiderate idiot!"

"Don't worry, Ron San, I did not buy you a gift in order to receive something in return. And besides, I had the unfair advantage of knowing exactly what you would like."

"Yeah, but you're my friend, and I really missed you and I should have..." He paused, and thought for a few moments. "You know? I remember I promised to make you dinner the first time we met. Well now I'm gonna! Right now! Come on Yori." He grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the sealed main gates.

"But Ron San. There is no kitchen in the Academy. All the food is bought in, how are you..."

"Worry not," he said, with a mischievous smile. "The Ron man's got it covered."

XXXXX

They came to the main gates and looked up at them. They were huge, made of tonnes of super strong metal, and sealed shut with computerized hydraulic locks. These things could stand up to a nuclear explosion.

"Ron San? What are you planning?"

He pulled something he'd picked up out of Kim's bedroom while he was back home, and smiled. "Gonna call up an old friend for a favor." He pressed the button on the Kimmunicator, which beeped a few times, before it was answered by a startled looking twelve year old boy.

"Uhhh... Hi Ron. Been a while since I've answered a call on this frequency. What are you doing with the Kimmunicator?"

"I picked it up back in Middleton during my leave, Wade. Look..."

"Ron," Wade cut him off. "Don't you think you should give it back to Kim?"

"Yeah I'm gonna, I picked it up for her anyway. But as it turns out I could use a favor from you. Please? For old times sake?"

"Sure Ron. You know I'm always happy to help out a friend. What can I do for you?"

"I'm currently standing in front of a big metal gate that I need opened."

Wade was immediately typing away at his keyboard, and within seconds he spoke. "Ah. Gates to Shinra Academy?"

"Those are the ones."

Again he was typing. "I don't know Ron. Shinra's computer security, and technology is state of the art. Layers upon layers of encryption, and I don't think any hacker has ever successfully... I'm in!"

To Yori's astonishment all the locks hissed and clanked as they unlocked, the huge gate parted before them.

"That... is very impressive!"

"Aw, you get used to it. Thanks, Wade."

"Any time, Ron."

"So what have you been up to while me and Kim have been here? Been meaning to ask you."

"Took a page out of your book. I got a job with Shinra's Science and Technology Division. Most of the people here really know what they're talking about, but there's this one girl my age who's really brilliant! Always gives me a run for my money. Her name's Shelke."

"Oooh, Wade's got a girlfriend, Wade's got a girlfriend," he sang.

"You watch yourself, Mad Dog! I noticed you're not exactly alone either."

"Oh right. Introductions. Wade this is Yori. Yori. Wade."

Yori bowed at the monitor of the Kimmunicator. "It is an honor to meet a hacker of such skill."

Wade smiled evilly, then started singing. "Ron's got a girlfr..."

Ron instantly turned the Kimmunicator off. "Bye Wade."

Yori giggled.

"Come on Yori," he said, grabbing her wrist and running out of the opened gates with her. "Dinner time."

XXXXX

Tifa had been a little surprised to see Ron again, when he barged into her empty restaurant, asking to use her kitchen. She was a little reluctant at first, but after hearing the story about the really thoughtful gift, and his desire to return the favor, she conceded.

"Okay Ron, I guess I still owe you for the Naco recipe. I'll close up the restaurant, and head up stairs so you and your friend can have some privacy."

"Thanks Tifa. You rock!"

"Yeah, I know," she replied, smiling.

Moments later he and Yori were alone in the kitchen, and he asked if she had a favorite dish.

"I don't think you would know it. A very obscure recipe from Wutai, my Sensei always cooks. Its a very spicy pork dish, that doesn't really have a name..."

"Spicy? I'm sympatico with spicy! And yeah, I know it, spicy Wutai pork comin' up!"

She watched him cook and was very impressed. His use of the kitchen knife showed so much skill and precision, and unlike with his sword in training, he didn't cut his pants off once. Soon the meat was frying with some vegetables and a few of the spices Yori had gifted him with, then the most wonderful aroma started filling the air.

"Rice or noodles?" he asked.

"Rice please."

Soon, everything was cooked and served in a pair of bowls with chopsticks. They went into the dining room and picked out a table, then sat down together. Having her first taste of very spicy pork, she moaned approvingly.

"Good?" Ron asked.

"My Sensei will be sad to know that this is even better than his. You have a true talent, my friend."

"Booyah."

They ate silently together for a while, and looked into each other's eyes. Ron had even forgotten that he wasn't even wearing his sunglasses, after taking them off during cooking. He just felt so comfortable around her. And it seemed they had found something in common, they both loved spicy food. This was really hot, and Yori was eating it like the mildest thing on the planet.

While she ate though, the way she was looking at him, it was... He wasn't sure... Funny? And when they both finished their food, the funny look remained. She'd never stared at him like that before.

"Yori? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Without a word she brushed the bowls off the table and sent them shattering to the floor. Then in one swift graceful movement she was up on the tabletop crawling towards him. The next thing he knew she had leaned into him, and was kissing him on the mouth. He made no move to stop her either. She tasted spicy.

"Mmmm," she moaned. She climbed down and mounted his lap, without breaking the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck, her spicy lips stroking up against his, and her tongue licking gently at his teeth.

He pulled out of the kiss and gasped. "Yori! I don't know if we should..."

"Ron San," she cut him off calmly. "Stop talking."

She leaned in and resumed the kiss, and Ron did as he was told. He wrapped both arms around her waist, she hugged his head more tightly, and he felt her press her firm muscular body up against him. Things it seemed were about to get very steamy.

At least until an unexpected voice spoke up from beside them. "You two... are in very, very big trouble."

Both stopped kissing and stared at the man that had entered the restaurant and come up beside them without either of them noticing. A man that looked royally pissed off!

Yori and Ron both paled considerably. "General!" they gasped.

His eyes narrowed. "Both of you, come with me. Now!"

XXXXX

Soon Ron and Yori were standing in General Strife's office, which though nice, was kind of plain for Ron's tastes. There was an expensive looking dark wooden desk, and a massive sword hanging on the wall. A few more items of furniture littered the room, but it was really kind of boring.

Ron stood at attention, looking very nervous, while Yori stared at the floor with a guilty look on her face. Cloud was pacing back and forth in front of them, looking not only angry, but tremendously disappointed. He stopped pacing and glared at them both.

"Not only have you disobeyed a direct order from me by leaving the Academy grounds, but you had our computers hacked! Opened our main gates without authorization! Do you have any comprehension of how serious that is?"

Still really nervous, Ron swallowed hard and offered a reply. "Um... It seemed like a good idea at the time?"

His frown deepened. "Dammit Stoppable. Just when you were starting to grow on me you pull a stunt like this. And Yori. I am very surprised at you."

Yori jumped with fright when the attention was her. She had always been such a straight arrow, and had kept to the rules. It was clear that she wasn't as accustomed to being in trouble as Ron was. "I am sorry sir."

Cloud looked to the floor and sighed. "Yori, you have been nothing short of an excellent student for your entire stay here. But you Ron... Your grades are barely passing you, and your performance in class is even worse... I... I'm afraid I can't let this slide."

He paused and then looked up from the floor and glared at both of them. "Yori, you will be severely disciplined. But you Ron... I'm afraid you're expelled. Pack your things."

XXXXX

To be continued...

Sorry about the long wait. My brother seems to have lost interest in BETA reading for me, so I hope its still readable. ) As usual, if there is anything particularly annoying or repetitive about my writing, please tell me in a review so I can improve. Leave a review even if not, I'll definitely appreciate it.

Now one issue, some of you might think that Cloud is acting a little out of character. But remember this is nearly two years after Advent Children, and Cloud has grown a little. Been put in charge of hundreds of young cadets, and even started being influenced by Kim. So try not to hold his slightly different attitude in this story against me. I look forward to hearing from you. I try and have the next chapter done very soon.

-Jawelik 


	8. Chapter 7

Rebirth: Part 7 by Jawelik --

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Disney and Squaresoft. One or two minor characters may be mine, but most aren't.

--

"I'm afraid you're expelled. Pack your things."

The office went completely silent, as both Yori and Ron stared with jaws agape. Cloud stared back, and though he had a slight scowl on his face, it was also clear he didn't like doing this to Ron.

Up until now, Yori had been quite timid under the wrath of the General, but she lost that really fast. "No! You can't!"

Cloud looked right at the girl and frowned. It was highly improper for a cadet to speak out against the General. "It's done Yori. And I think its for the best."

"It is not for the best! You cannot give Ron and I different punishments! I will not stand for such an injustice!"

Ron blanched then leaned over and whispered to his friend. "Yori, amp down. Maybe it is for the best, maybe I don't belong here. I don't want you getting in trouble for me."

She turned and smiled fondly at him. "You do belong here, my friend. This place would be unbearable without you." Then she returned her eyes to Cloud and her expression became considerably colder. "I demand that Ron and I receive the same punishment!"

The glare she received from Cloud's mako eyes was just as cold as hers. "It is not your place to demand anything, cadet."

"I demand it nonetheless!"

In his time as General, Cloud had learned to make hard, and often unpopular decisions. And he felt now was one of those decision making times. "You're a gifted student, and you have a real future in the military. But if it is what you really want, then you and Ron can have the same punishment. You're expelled too."

"Woah! General! Dude! No!" Ron started complaining.

"That's enough from both of you! I want you both packed and off Academy grounds by tomo..."

"Cloud!" a woman's voice snapped from behind him. Startled, he spun around to find a very familiar brunette stalking into his office, holding a large package. "Did I just hear you correctly?!"

"Tifa?" he asked, bewildered. "What are you doing here?"

"A few reasons, actually," she said, walking up to Ron and handing him the case she was carrying. "Firstly, Ron left his spices in my kitchen. Here you go Ron."

"Thanks Tifa."

"Secondly, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. But before we get into that, let me make it clear that you are NOT expelling them!"

His scowl was directed at Tifa this time. "With all due respect, Tifa, I don't think this is any of your concer-ah, ow, OW, OW! Tifa!"

She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him into the furthest corner of his office. "Oh its my concern all right! You can not expel a kid for doing something so sweet as to make dinner for his friend, who he has missed for weeks! Its just wrong!"

"Hey!" he snapped back, his usual cool composure completely melting away. "I'm the General here, its my call, and what I say go..." She gave him a dirty look, and suddenly Shinra's almighty General actually seemed to be shrinking with fear before the woman. "Awww Tifa! Not the angry face!"

Without saying a word, she just narrowed her eyes to slits, and angrily pursed her lips into a glare that would bring any man to his knees. It was mere seconds before Cloud gave in and threw up his arms.

"Fine! Maybe I overacted a little! They're..." He hesitated then turned to address the two cadets. "You're not expelled. But you will be disciplined! Severely! Report to me in the courtyard at 0400 tomorrow! You're dismissed."

Tifa folded her arms and smiled smugly as the two cadets bolted past her and through the door before Cloud could change his mind. At the last moment though, Ron ran back into the office and gave Tifa a big hug, causing the woman to giggle out of surprise.

"Thanks Tifa. You continue to rock!"

"I said 'you're dismissed' cadet!" Cloud snapped. Ron was back out the door in a flash.

He turned his attention back to Tifa, and frowned. "You said something about wanting to talk to me."

Still smiling smugly, she nodded. "Yeah. Ron told me a few interesting things about your young protege..."

"You're calling her my protege too?" he cut her off.

"Everyone's calling her that Cloud. Get with the program... Anyway, as I was saying, I've heard some interesting things and would like to meet her. I thought that maybe you'd be willing to allow me to be a guest instructor for the day tomorrow."

Cloud smiled here. "You know you're welcome here for more than a day. We don't have a single hand to hand combat specialist on staff who comes close to measuring up to you."

"As sweet as that is, Cloud, I'll pass. One day is all I want."

He nodded. "Of course. I'm sure the cadets will all benefit from your skills and experience. Even if just for a day." He lead her to his door as he spoke. "Want me to walk you to the gates?"

Smiling, she affectionately hugged onto his arm, as they walked across the courtyard like a pair walking home from a date. "Please and thank you," she chirped.

He smiled now too. "Kim says that all the time."

"I picked it up from Ron," she said.

He nodded. "You know after that display earlier, when you convinced me not to expell those two, I got to thinking. Maybe you should be Shinra's General, and I should be working at your restaurant."

She giggled at that. "I'd make a better General, no doubt. But if that meant letting you near my kitchen, with the way YOU cook? I think not!"

"Yup. General Tifa Lockheart wouldn't need an army at her back, she'd scare evil into submission with her angry face."

Both the childhood friends snickered at this. "Don't make me hurt you, smart ass."

XXXXX

The next morning, Ron and Yori both reported to the General at 4am. Two hours earlier than they were accustomed to getting up for training. To start off with their discipline, Cloud stripped Yori of one of the stripes on her sleeve, knocking her down from First to Second Class. Ron, who was still the lowest Third Class rank, could not be demoted.

Yori would not be able to regain her First Class ranking for a month, and both her and Ron were going to be reporting here every morning at four for extra training. It was mostly running laps, pushups and other various exercises, designed to tire them both out. Naturally Yori handled it much better than Ron, who relied greatly on Yori's encouragement to keep from passing out from exhaustion.

The General was not going to make their punishment easy, this much was clear. He was going to ensure both of them stuck to the rules from now on.

After just under two hours of being pushed by the total slave driver, Yori and Ron sat on the ground together, leaning up against the Academy's main building. Both were panting, only Ron was much more exhausted than Yori. And to make things worse, they still had the usual day of hard training ahead of them.

"I'm sorry I got you into this, Yori," Ron whispered, guiltily. "This is all my fault."

"It was worth it for that dinner, Ron San. I can't say I have ever eaten so well. And the kiss was nice too."

"But you got demoted! You lost your stripe because I..."

"I will earn it back. And besides, I would rather lose all my stripes, than lose you. I am happy with the outcome."

He looked right into her eyes and smiled. "You know what Yori, so am I. You're a good friend, and I'm glad we still get to hang."

She leaned to the side, and affectionately rested her head upon his shoulder. "As am I, Ron San."

"And you know what? The next time we get some leave, I'm going to go to Wutai with you. You know, if you still want me to."

She turned and smiled widely at him. "Of course I want you to! Oh Ron!" She leaned in, threw her arms around him and kissed him on the mouth. He only kissed back for a few moments, before reluctantly pushing her away.

"Yori, hold on... I read the rules last night, after almost getting expelled... You know, just in case I broke one without knowing it and got into hot water again... And public displays of affection... Its kinda frowned upon."

She smiled at him evilly. "Then perhaps we should find a place not quite so public?"

He blushed. "We might do that. But for now, I think I need a shower and a clean uniform before our first class... Meet you there?"

Still smiling, she nodded. "Yes Ron San. I will see you soon."

XXXXX

Later that day all the students were summoned to the main courtyard, where Cloud and all the other instructors awaited them. There the General adressed everybody with Tifa standing at his side.

"Everybody, I would like you all to meet my good friend, Tifa Lockheart. Quite possibly the best hand to hand combat expert I have ever known. She has graciously offered up her time and experience today, and I suggest you all make the most of it."

Every cadet present saluted, and called out. "Sir, yes sir!"

Cloud smiled and nodded at his friend. "They're all yours, Tifa."

She stepped ahead of him, and looked over all the cadets before her. Almost from the get go, her attention seemed focused on the red head in the front row.

"Okay let me start off by acknowledging that not many soldiers focus on unarmed combat anymore. Many people believe it to be inferior to the armed fighting arts, and that its unimportant." She smirked smugly. "This couldn't be further from the truth. Can any of you tell me why this is?" Without a moment of hesitation, she pointed out the cadet she had been watching. "You. Kim Possible right? What's the answer I'm looking for?"

Kim stepped forward and cleared her throat, before speaking so all the other cadets could hear her. "Unarmed combat practices the mastery of your own body. Any weapon is nothing more than an extension to that body, therefore mastery of hand to hand combat is beneficial to any warrior. A weapon is only as good as the warrior who wields it."

Smiling widely, she nodded at that. "Spot on, Possible. I'm going to need a volunteer, you may as well step up."

Obediently Kim stepped forward, and saluted. "Yes ma'am."

Tifa walked right up to her and looked her up and down. "That answer you just gave me proves it. You really are one of Zanghan's students, aren't you?"

Kim face faulted. "Y... You know Master Zanghan?" Zanghan is a fighter who travels the world over teaching young children martial arts. Kim had trained with him from the age of five, until he left and told her to keep learning all she could.

"I'm one of his students too," Tifa said.

All of a sudden Kim looked majorly intimidated, which was strange for a confident girl like her. "Wait, your THAT Tifa?! The one Master Zanghan always talked about?"

Her smug smile widened. "That'd be me."

She swallowed hard, and mumbled under her breath. "Oh man..."

She looked to Kim's belt and tapped one of the jade colored daggers attached to it. "So. You favor the armed combat, huh?"

Kim still looked nervous. Her old Master had clearly made Tifa out to be some kind of a legend. "Um... Do you think Master Zanghan would dissaprove?"

Tifa snickered at that. "Not at all. You know as well as I do, that he encouraged research into all forms of combat. I may feel more comfortable with my own fists than any weapon, but you are free to follow whatever path you like. Now. Let's get back to the lesson."

Kim nodded. "Yes ma'am."

Tifa reached back and pulled a brown pair of leather gloves from her back pocket and pulled them on. "Okay Kim, we're going to have a little sparring match. For the purposes of education."

As she started to get into battle mode, Kim's composure returned. "Okay. We both going hand to hand?"

"If you're more formidable with your weapons, please use them. I want you to give me all you have."

Nodding, she pulled her daggers from the clips on either side of her belt, spinning them both as she prepared her battle stance. "Don't worry. I always give my all in a fight."

"I have no doubt." Bending her legs, she dropped into a fighting stance, and lifted her fists in front of her face. Her leather gloves squeaked a little as she tightened her fists. "Now show me what you've got, Possible!"

As usual she jumped right into battle with everything she had. And with three months of Cloud's personal tutelage behind her, her considerable skills were greater than ever. She moved in a blur, seeming to slash at her opponent with her daggers hundreds of times in mere moments.

Tifa however danced around every attack; ducked, weaved and almost appeared to be dancing with Kim, as not a single blow met its mark. "I see you've never fought a fellow student of Zanghan's before. Interesting." Amazingly, while still dodging every one of Kim's attacks, Tifa started speaking to the other cadets at the same time. "There's a valuable lesson right there. It doesn't matter how good you are, if your opponent knows your techniques as well as, or better than you do, then you're at a major disadvantage."

She smiled at Kim, as the red head kept trying with no avail to hit her really impressive opponent. "Master Zanghan taught you a lot of good tricks, Possible. But I know all of them too. Not to mention the fact that I have a good seven years experience on you. You're going to have to learn to be less predictable."

This caused Kim to lose her temper, and really start to charge in now. "I am NOT predictable!"

"I beg to differ, Kim. You're good, your technique is flawless, and your power and speed are impressive. But you're still doing little more than regurgitating the things Master Zanghan taught you. You have yet to make the techniques your own. And no one can defeat me with Master Zanghan's techniques. I know them too well."

Out of nowhere Tifa unleashed her first attack of the fight. Her punch flew through all of Kim's defenses, and slammed right into her chin. The blow was so powerful in send Kim flying backwards a good thirty feet. But she recovered in mid air as she flew, somersaulting backwards then skidding backwards along the the dirt, the soles of her boots kicking up a dust cloud in her wake.

Shaking her head, she started rubbing her chin and groaning. "Ow! I don't think I've ever been punched that hard!"

"No one punches as hard as Tifa," Cloud said, from where he watched with the other instructors.

Tifa just stood staring at Kim, and started cracking her knuckles. Kim scowled angrily, and held her blades out to her sides. She was starting to glow all over with red energy. Looked like she was ready to unleash a limit break.

"You know Zanghan's techniques too well, huh?! Well how about I show you something new?!" She fed all her limit energies into her daggers, and then made two slashes in Tifa's direction. In no time two curved blades of ruby red energy were flying towards her, a vertical one, followed closely by a horizontal one. Many of the cadets had seen the technique once or twice, the beams tended to follow their targets, so they were not only highly destructive, but notoriously difficult to dodge.

Tifa however stood still as she watched them approach. Then when the vertical blade beam was close enough to light up her visage with red light, she made a simple step sideways. The blade missed her by millimeters, kicking up her long hair as it passed. Immediately after dodging the first one, she bent over backwards, so the horizontal beam flew over her chest.

She stood back up straight as the two beams continued off into the distance behind her, until the totally obliterated the first wall they slammed into. The blades might follow someone right in front of them, but something moving forward with that much speed and power was never likely to be making any U-turns.

Kim stared with her jaw agape. "Woah! That is so not possible! That wasn't even Zanghan's technique!"

Tifa chuckled. "Yeah. Well I know Cloud's fighting techniques pretty well too. Why not show me something original Kim?"

Even with her limit energies now drained and wasted, Kim didn't quit. She ran at her opponent at an incredible speed, and once again started slashing at her once she came into range. This proved to be a mistake. Because even though Kim's limit energies were gone, Tifa's were now fully loaded.

When Kim attempted to slash down on Tifa with both daggers at once, she was stopped in her tracks. When her blades were caught in a pair of leather clad hands. No one had just caught Kim's blades like that, not even Cloud. But she only had a few seconds to stare bewildered into brown eyes, before Tifa's head shot forward and slammed into her face.

The head butt not only knocked Kim back, but allowed Tifa to snatch the daggers out of her hands, and drop them to the ground. Then while Kim was dazed, the brunette stepped forward and pushed her advantage. Now it was her moving in a blur as she threw punch after punch, pulling off left right combinations so fast, it was reminiscent of watching someone beating a drum.

And even Kim's moves to defend herself were useless, she'd guard her left side, only to have a knee lifted into her right. While defending her face, she'd completely miss Tifa's punches to her gut. The guest instructor was all over the Academy's top pupil, and there was nothing that could be done to stop the onslaught.

Ron had never seen Kim being so totally dominated! Not even the General could hand Kim her own ass like this. And it wasn't because Tifa was a better fighter than Cloud, but more because she knew Kim's fighting style so well, that she knew every move she was going to make in advance. Everyone watching was wincing as Kim Possible was pummeled without mercy. Then all of a sudden, Tifa flipped over backwards, hitting Kim with a high kick so hard it sent her flying straight up. And she kept flying until she was little more than a speck in the sky.

After completing her somersault kick, Tifa landed back onto her feet, brushed a lock of hair out of her face and behind her ear then turned and spoke to the flabbergasted students that were watching. "Now there is an important lesson. No matter how good you are, there is always room for improvement. Always. Do not just regurgitate what you learn here at the Academy. Make the fighting techniques your own, be spontaneous and inventive. You never know when you'll fight an enemy who knows the same things you do."

The cadets all nodded, then started discussing it amongst themselves. All the while though, Tifa had been holding up her right fist and feeding it full of limit energies. In moments it was glowing with blinding white energy. "Now. If you'll give me one moment."

All of a sudden, Kim came dropping back down right behind Tifa. And before she could even hit the ground, Tifa spun around and punched her with a ferocious right cross. The glowing fist hit its mark hard, and caused a huge explosion of light so bright, everyone watching lifted their hands to protect their eyes. Kim was sent flying across the courtyard at such a high velocity, that she kicked up a long dust cloud in her wake. Then when she slammed into the wall of the main building, there was a huge explosion that sent a shower of splintered wood flying.

Tifa clapped the dust off her hands with a self satisfied smirk, and everyone, cadets and instructors alike just gawked. Kim had made a name for herself over the months, as the person to beat. Even the instructors were constantly being defeated by her, Cloud was the only one who could really dominate her. It seemed though, now there were two.

After a few minutes of silence, everyone started applauding. Tifa blushed, then looked back to the decimated portion of the main building. "Okay, I think we'll take a twenty minute break, so you can all reflect on what you've learned and... um... we can get Kim a doctor."

There was a little chuckling from the crowd at that, and Cloud came up beside his friend and frowned as he looked a the damage to the main building. "Reeve isn't going to like this. Seems every time Kim has a sparring match, we have to repair something."

"Come on Cloud, lets check on her."

"I'm not too worried," he commented. "That girl can take more punishment than most."

They reached the devastation and found Kim half unconscious in the middle of it. "Not bad, Possible," Tifa complimented. "How are you feeling?"

"Uhhh! I can't feel my elbows!"

Cloud smirked, then called out. "Medic!"

Two cadets came up and looked in at Kim. "You okay, KP?" Ron asked.

"No big," she groaned back. "Just some shattered bones and internal bleeding... I'll walk it off."

For a change, it was one of Kim's jokes that made Yori giggle. Then she turned and bowed at Tifa. "It is a great honor to be taught by so formidable a warrior."

She looked at Yori for a moment as if she was confused. "You have very good manners."

"Thank you, Tifa Sama."

"Are you sure you're related to Yuffie?"

This even got a usually calm and collected Cloud snickering, and Yori failed to hold back her own chuckling at the comment.

"I want it on the record, that after I get out of my wheelchair, I want a rematch!" Kim groaned from where she still hadn't moved.

Tifa turned and looked right into Kim's determined green eyes. "I'll think about it... Maybe when you graduate."

Despite the obvious pain she was in, she smiled. "I'll hold you to that."

XXXXX

Tifa's lesson had not only helped most all of the students improve, it had a humbling effect on Kim. As good as she was, she clearly had a lot of improving to do. So she kept learning all she could, now from instructors other than just Cloud. Making the most of every instructor in the Academy, and working on being more spontaneous and creative when she fought. She improved greatly because of it.

Ron and Yori's relationship unfortunately didn't last. Ron for some reason had decided to get perceptive, and had noticed something Yori had been doing. It turns out, that as a Second Class cadet she was put into more classes with Ron, and had much more time with him. And like many young women who are blinded by their affection for a guy, she had decided to do something foolish.

Ron had not taken long to notice that Yori was slacking and letting her grades slip. And though it upset the girl greatly he had put an end to the romantic aspect of their relationship right there. Said he would not allow her to hold herself back. They did however continue to spend just as much time together, Ron just refused all her attempts at any affection that went beyond hugging. They both decided that maybe a romance could wait until after graduation. Not that Yori wasn't tempted to resume it a few times.

Another three months went by, and they were once again given two weeks of leave. And this time it was Kim's turn to be left alone in Midgar. Ironically she had decided to surprise Ron with her trip for two to the Golden Saucer, only to be let down by a very upset Ron, who explained his plans with Yori.

Kim couldn't help but feel she deserved it a little bit after forgetting about him last time. So she just told him to have fun, and spent her time at the Saucer with Monique.

Meanwhile Ron's time in Yori's home town was an ideal opportunity to rekindle their romance. At least it would have been, if not for Yori's over protective twin brother, Hirotaka. The Sensei Ron had heard so much about took an instant liking to him, but Hirotaka was a different story. He did not like this outsider who his sister had bought home. And much to the anger of Yori, he made sure her and Ron were never given a private moment. Even threatened Ron a time or two.

Needless to say, this Hirotaka guy was a major party pooper, and seriously sucked the fun out of his time in Wutai. Ron could actually respect the fact that he loved his sister and wanted to protect her, but did he really have to be such a total jerk about it? Yori apologized profusely to him, when she put him on the bus back home to Middleton, and gave him a kiss on the mouth, which was more to anger Hirotaka than say goodbye to Ron.

And soon the training resumed again. Though staying close, Ron and Yori never got back together romantically. Ron continued his barely passable performance in all his classes, while both Kim and Yori excelled for the rest of the year. And in what seemed like no time their graduation ceremony was upon them.

And that's about the time things starting to go wrong.

XXXXX

To be continued...

Sorry for the way too long wait for this chapter. No really good excuse this time, just been a little lazy, pure and simple. But like I've promised before I will finish it. I actually have more ideas for stories I'd love to do, but I have to finish this one first. Please drop me a review and tell me what you think. I'll have the next chapter out soon.

-Jawelik 


	9. Chapter 8

Rebirth: Part 8 by Jawelik --

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Disney and Squaresoft. One or two minor characters may be mine, but most aren't.

--

Kim entered the abandoned warehouse, which was just within the borders of the Midgar ruins. The vast warehouse floor was littered with hundreds of huge, empty metal cargo crates, which gave her plenty of cover. Funny thing this, she was on her first mission for Shinra, and hadn't even graduated just yet. And as she used all the new stealth tricks she had learned in the Academy over the past year, she remembered the events that had bought her here.

Graduation was tomorrow, and about a week ago Cloud had made an announcement that had many of the cadets cheering. Even a few of the instructors. Shinra Inc had managed to get Elemental, one of Gaia's most beloved bands, to play at the Graduation ceremony. Kim was ecstatic about the news, she was a huge Elemental fan.

Early in the morning however, on the day before graduation, Cloud took Kim to the side and gave her some secret information. "Kim. It seems that this morning, on their way here to the Academy, Elemental's bus was hijacked."

Kim gasped. "What?! By who?!"

He opened up a cardboard folder which he was holding, and read a piece of paper within as he replied. "Some nut. A former Shinra scientist from way back. Name's Drew Lipsky."

Kim's eyes went wide as saucers. "Dr Drakken?!"

Cloud looked up from the file, surprised. "Wait. This Lipsky, is the Dr Drakken person you've told me about?"

"Yeah. He went to college with my dad, before he got into the whole mad scientist gig. Kinda weird that I wound up foiling so many of his whacked plans."

Cloud nodded. "Well this works out well then. I've been given the task of rescuing the band, and I was hoping you could provide me with some backup."

She blanched. "What? Backup? Me? But I haven't even graduated yet."

"Come on Kim, that's only a day away. And I know you've been itching to try out all the things you've learned over the past year in the field."

"Well... Yeah... But surely there's someone better qualified."

"Top of your class? And you have ample experience with the man we're after. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have covering my back."

Kim felt herself beam with pride. "Okay sir. I'll go. But can Ron come too?"

Cloud hesitated. "I think the two of us should be able to handle it."

"But General! You know..."

He held up a hand to stop her. "Yeah, yeah. You've never been on a mission without him, I know. And I guess it couldn't hurt to bring along a few of the other cadets, just in case. A little field work might do some of our Third Class cadets some good anyway."

So after they traced Drakken to the warehouse, Kim and Cloud entered together, while Ron and a few of his fellow Third Class cadets were told to cover the exits. Kim and the General came to a clear space in the centre of the warehouse floor where their targets were standing. They surveyed the situation from thier hiding place behind one of the metal crates.

Drakken walked around ranting to his green skinned, and admittedly attractive assistant, Shego.

"I told you Shego, this is my best plan yet! When I get Element, the world's most popular band, to record thier music on this equipment I have designed, it will instantly enslave anyone who listens to it! And thier legion of fans, will become a legion in service to me! Dr Drakken! Gyahahahaha!"

Cloud leaned over and whispered to Kim as they watched. "I used to know a guy who laughed like that."

Kim smiled. "Annoying huh?"

"Oh yeah."

Shego glanced at the band of four pretty boy pop stars, who were standing silently in their prison beneath a glass dome. They had thier microphones and instruments, but all just glared angrily at Drakken.

"Yep. Brilliant, Dr D," Shego said, sarcastically. "Now if only you could actually get them to sing for you."

"Dude, we are not scheduled to play here," the black haired lead singer said, calmly. His name was Ash, and like most lead singers he was the most popular band member. "You're gonna have to speak with our agent."

"Forget that!" Guss, the handsome blonde drummer cut in. "I don't care if he does speak to our agent, we ain't playin' squat for this freak!"

"Damn right!" the dark skinned guitarist, named Blue, cut in. "No one enslaves Element's fans! Our fans are like our family!"

"YEAH!!" all four yelled at once.

Shego smirked meanly at Drakken. "So now what?"

"How should I know?!" he snapped back. "Am I supposed to think of everything?!"

"Well you are the 'evil genius' right?" she sneered, using air quotes for the whole evil genius bit.

At this point, Kim and Cloud stepped out from thier hiding place. "How about you just let them go, genius?" Kim said.

"I'm with Kim on this one," Cloud added.

Drakken spun around and his jaw almost hit the floor when he saw his nemesis. "Kim Possible?! How could this be?! I thought you'd retired or something! I thought I was finally rid of you!"

Kim chuckled. "Retired? I've only just turned seventeen, my retirement days a fair way away yet."

"Well, I won't allow you to stop m..." He paused when he caught sight of Cloud. "... My... Seems the buffoon has had a growth spurt."

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes, and Cloud leaned over and whispered to Kim again. "What did he just call me?"

"He thinks you're Ron."

Now it was Cloud's turn to have his jaw hit the floor. "He thinks I'm RON?!"

"Don't take it too hard. Sidekicks really confuse him."

"All RIGHT, the cavalry's here!" Cley, the tanned brown haired bass guitarist cheered.

Shego looked Cloud up and down, and if possible started to go even paler than usual. "Uh... Dr D? That isn't the buffoon."

He spent a moment examining the General again. "Oh? Then who is he?"

Shego swallowed hard. "Shinra's General? Cloud Strife? The guy who beat Sephiroth?"

Drakken waved his hand dismissively. "Never heard of him."

"Where have you been for the last four years?!" she gasped at him.

"I've been working to take over the world! Unlike some evil assistants I might know!"

"Are they always like this?" Cloud asked.

"Most of the time, yeah. Now how about we beat these guys, rescue the band and get back to the Academy?"

Cloud nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Drakken looked at Shego then waved a hand towards Cloud and Kim. "Shego. Dispense with these miscreants."

She stared at them, nervousness clear in her expression. "The princess... sure... Could probably even give the General a run for his money one on one... But there is no way I'm taking them both on at once! You don't pay me enough for that."

Drakken sighed, then pulled out a remote from inside his blue lab coat. "Fine Shego. So hard to find reliable help these days." He pressed a button, and a trap door in the floor opened up nearby, then an elevator came up carrying several figures clad in purple jumpsuits and gas masks. "Synthodrones, attack!"

Cloud pulled his massive sword from his back and Kim unclipped her daggers from her belt, while the syntho drones stalked towards them.

"Um... General? I usually fight Shego, so do you mind if I take her?"

Cloud nodded. "Go ahead, Kim. Why don't you show her all the new things you've learned?"

Kim smiled. "Gladly... Oh, and those Syntho Drones aren't people, so you can feel free to cut them up all you want. You know, without worrying about the whole icky killing thing."

One of the few people who could make Cloud crack a smile every now and again was Kim. "Thanks for the advice."

"No big."

Shego cracked her knuckles which burst into green flames then glared at Kim. "Okay, are you two going to keep on yacking? Or are we going to do the whole Kung Fu thing as usual?"

Kim ran forward and made a few swipes with her daggers, which Shego parried with her glowing hands. A little known fact, when her hands lit up, they were harder than tempered steel.

"If you're in that much of a hurry to be whooped and thrown in a jail cell, Shego."

"You're not whooping anyone, princess!"

"Yeah, I am. And faster than usual, to boot!"

As they exchanged banter, the two were leaping all over the tops of the metal crates, exchanging blows. Bright green sparks flew whenever glowing hands met daggers. At one point Kim let off a kick into Shego's stomach so hard that she slammed into one of the metal crates, and left a deep dent. Hauling herself out of her metal crater, she shook off the stars and snickered.

"Heh. Seems someone's been improving."

"Yep. Thanks to good teachers," Kim said, before charging forward. "Too bad you haven't improved at all!"

When they came into range of each other she let off a flurry of blade swipes, only half of which Shego managed to block. Once upon a time she would have blocked every one. And each blow that met its mark let off a small explosion of red light when it hit. Cloud meanwhile was making short work of the seven synthodrones, cutting off limbs, heads and running a few through the chest. Each one was soon bleeding green slime, and shrivelling up as their liquid insides leaked out.

After a few minutes of being majorly roughed up, Shego was sent flying, to where she tumbled head over hells onto the concrete floor in front of Drakken. Then, sprawled out on her back, she groaned miserably.

"Shego!" the mad scientist snapped. "What do you think you're doing?!"

She climbed to her feet, and rubbed her sore head. "I'm getting my butt kicked, what does it look like?!"

"But Kim Possible has never defeated you so easily! No one has!"

"Yeah, well, she's been practicing, okay?!"

Drakken frowned angrily. "And you haven't?!"

"The bad guy business has been too easy for the past year! And I've let myself get rusty without Kimmie around to keep me sharp." She glared at the red head, then her whole body stared to glow with green light. "We need to get out of here!"

"Agreed!" Drakken said, with a nod, as he lifted his remote again and pushed another button. A small section of the ceiling above them exploded, leaving a large hole that a flying saucer-like hover craft came descending through. "Come Shego!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Kim snapped.

Cloud stepped up next to her and pointed his sword at them, which was dripping with green slime. "That's right! You are both under arrest for kidnapping, and the attempted assault of a Shinra employee!"

Shego smiled as she glowed even brighter, and started to form a ball of green energy bentween her palms, which steadily started growing. "Well. Seems like the villian gig just got a whole lot more interesting! Taking you guys on should be fun!"

"Don't try anything you may regret!" Cloud snapped. "You're no match for either one of us, let alone both!"

"It was nice seeing you again, pumpkin!" she chuckled, as her energy ball continued to grow and she held it up over her head. "But I'm gonna have to ditch you now. I'll see you and your new boyfriend later, okay?"

Kim blushed. "He is not my boyf-UNH!!"

Without any warning the large energy ball just exploded. Both Kim and Cloud were expecting Shego to throw it at them, but instead it exploded into flash of blinding green light. Everyone was forced to cover thier eyes from the flash-bomb, and when it finally cleared and their eyesight came back they all looked up. The hovercraft had flown back up through the hole in the roof carrying Shego and Drakken.

"KIM POSSIBLE! YOU THINK YOUR NEW SIDEKICK'S ALL THAT, BUT HE'S NOT!"

Both watched the hovercraft fly off into the distance with identical frowns.

"He thinks I'm your sidekick?"

Kim blushed again. "Well... He does get confused easily. Don't let him get to you."

He nodded, then looked down to his shirt, which had been splattered with a good sized amount of green slime. "What exactly is this stuff?"

"Syntho goo. Trust me, you will never get the stains out."

"Uh huh?" He stepped up and looked into the glass dome at the band. "Are you guys all right?"

"We are now!" Cley said.

"Yeah, you two rule!" Guss agreed.

Kim walked up to a control panel, and hit a few buttons. Within moments the dome had opened up, and the four band members had come right up to Kim.

"And what name does our beautiful rescuer go by?" the lead singer, Ash, asked.

Putting her hands behind her back and smiled shyly. "Um... Kim. Kim Possible. And that's my superior, General Cloud Strife."

"Kim, huh?" Blue asked, not one of them seeming interested in Cloud at all. "You've got it goin' on, girl! Never seen moves like that before!"

"Yeah, well you guys are great too," she giggled, timidly. "I'm a really huge fan. And I have all your albums."

Cloud just stood and smiled as he watched his protege recieving all this attention. He never much liked praise or being in the spotlight himself, so he was happy just to let Kim have it.

Ash gave her his famous charming smile. "You know what guys, I think I'm inspired to write a new song."

"I know what you mean, man," the guitarist, Blue, agreed. "She's a special girl, this one. Was born to have music written about her."

Now she was blushing furiously. "A song about me? Really? By you guys? But I was just doing my job."

All four members of element were smiling widely now. "Man, I have not been this psyched about a song in years!" Guss said enthusiastically.

"I know what you mean, lets get working on it right away!" Ash agreed.

"YEAH!!" all four yelled.

"Okay gentlemen, I'll have you escorted to your bus, and bring you straight to your quarters in the Academy," Cloud said, before touching the transmitter in his ear. "Stoppable. Mission accomplished. I want you and your team to report to me inside."

"Yes sir," Ron called back over the transmitter. "And nice job. Does Kim not make an awesome partner?"

He failed to stifle his smile at that. "She does indeed. Now get in here."

"On my way sir."

Moments later, him and several of his fellow Third Class cadets lined up in front of the General and saluted.

"Kim, I want you and Ron to stick with Element until we have them safely at the Academy," Cloud ordered.

She saluted. "Yes sir."

"Um... General sir?" Ron said, nervously. "Is okay if I get some autographs, I'm a big fa..."

"Ron!" Kim snapped. "Not now!"

"Awww, but Kim!"

"I said not now!"

He pouted childishly, while Cloud just sighed and shook his head. On a certain level he really liked Ron. But professionally the kid was a total nightmare. Even after a year of training, he still had no concept of proper ettiquette. Much to Kim's chagrin, as well as Cloud's.

"Hey Kim, any friend of yours wants autographs, we're cool with that," the Ash cut in, pulling out a pen. "What would you like us to sign, my man?"

Ron tried desperately to find something in his pockets, which were unfortuneately empty. Kim meanwhile was rolling her eyes. It didn't take him long though to pull off his cap with the Shinra Logo and hand it to him.

"Can you sign this?"

"Ron, that's part of your uniform!" Kim admonished.

"She's right Stoppable," Cloud said. "As cadets you're all supposed to keep your uniforms in pristine condition."

"Isn't it graduation tomorrow though?" Ron argued. "We all get new uniforms, and this cap is only going to be a souvenir anyway. I..."

"Ron! How many times do I have to tell you not to argue with the General! He's in charge, and..."

Cloud held up his hand. "Ron has a point Kim. I guess it won't hurt to let him have his cap signed. He won't be wearing it again after graduation."

Frowning, she folded her arms and went quiet. Ron got all four signatures on his cap, then put it back on. "Booyah!"

"Okay guys," Kim whispered, a little grumpier than before. "Lets get you to the Academy."

XXXXX

"Hey guys. Hungry?" Ron poked his head through the door to Element's private room, where they were all huddled together around a table. He held up a tray with four plates on it, and the band looked up from what they were working on.

"Hell yeah, we're hungry," Ash said with a grin.

"Haven't eaten since yesterday," Cley added. "Bring it in, my man."

"It was Ron, right?" Blue, the guitarist asked.

"You remembered my name," Ron said, smiling widely. "I love you guys more than ever now."

Chuckling, all four of them grabbed a plate from Ron's tray, then they all paused to stare at it for a few moments.

"Uh... What exactly is this thing?" Ash asked.

"Its called a naco," Ron said. "Trust me, its good."

"Uh huh?" Ash said, skeptically.

The drummer Guss just took a bite and slowly chewed. He was well known as the more adventurous member of the band, and was always the first to try new things. "Damn. This thing is great! I think I'll order four more!"

Getting a laugh out of the rest of the band, they were all soon trying thier nacos too. Then Ash spoke up again. "Mmmm! Thanks Ron, these things are really good. Everyone at the Academy eat like this?"

"Nah, I have a friend who owns a restaurant and bar called Tifa's Final Heaven. She makes the best food and drinks in town."

Ash nodded. "Well I'm checkin' that place out while I'm in town. You guys with me?"

"Hell yeah!" the other three said.

"So, you need anything else?" Ron asked.

Ash glanced at his fellow band members then looked back at Ron. "Yeah, actually. You're Kim's friend, right?"

"Oh yeah. Me and Kim have been best buds since pre-school."

"Hooked up?" Ash asked.

"What? No, eww, no! Nothing like that. I mean she's like my sister!"

They all nodded, then Ash continued. "Look we've been trying to write a song about her, as a kinda thank you for the rescue. But as it turns out, as much as she seems to rock, we know like nothing about her. We could really use someone who knows her to tell us more about her. You know, help inspire us."

"You want Kim Possible expertise? I'm your man." He stepped up and looked at the sheet music Ash was writing out. "Mind if I take a look?"

Ash picked up the sheets and held them close. "I don't know man. We're kinda protective of our music. We were thinking you could just tell us some stories about her or something."

Ron hesitated. "Well, I guess that's fair enough. But I'm kinda protective of my best friend."

Ash looked at his band again, then nodded and handed Ron the sheets. Ron looked over the lyrics and hummed the tune as he read, although he was quite off key.

"Hold on a sec!" Cley cut in. "You read music?"

"Yeah, my mom made me take lessons when I was five," he said, as he read over the rest of the sheet music. "Okay, do you guys mind if I'm honest with you?"

"Please," Ash said.

"Well, this is a ballad. And though slow romantic music is nice for most girls, it just can't capture Kim's... Kimness."

"You don't think?" Ash asked.

"Kim is up beat. Fast paced. A song about her has to reflect that. And she has a few catch phrases and things she likes... Like her motto, 'I can do anything.'"

Ash smiled at the other three. "She can do anything. I think we can use that."

With out even realizing it, Ron was soon sitting down with the band and helping them write a song. And as it turned out, most of it was his work. He didn't realize it at the time, but it was mostly his song to Kim. It practically wrote itself too, and the band were practicing throughout the night. It came together so quickly it was ready to play the next day at graduation.

XXXXX

The whole assembly hall was shaking as everyone danced to Element's newest song. Not even the always calm and collected Cloud Strife could help but tap a shoe the the music. And in the front row, Kim Possible was listening in rapt attention, oblivious to her best friend who quietly sang along and knew all the words.

"Its just you;  
Doing the impossible, its you;  
You're practically unstoppable, its you;  
Totally untoppable, its you, its you, its you;  
You're Kim Possible."

Judging from all the clapping and dancing from the audience, the song was an absolute hit. And Element put a lot of passion into it; really seeming to enjoy performing it. Once they were done, they all seemed totally psyched, the applause was bringing the off the roof, and Ash started cheering over the microphone.

"WOOO!! That was awesome! You all thing that was awesome?!" He recieved a lot more cheering and applause as a reply. "You guys are the first audience we've played it for, but its definitely going on our next album!" He looked down at two people standing side by side in the audience and smiled at them. "Thanks Kim for being our inspiration, and thanks to you too Ron! You rock!"

Blushing at first, Kim's expression turned to one of surprise when they mentioned Ron. She looked at him but didn't say anything until later when they were invited back stage. Kim recieved a hug from each band member, and Ron gave them all high fives.

"Guys, that rocked big time!" Ron cheered. "You really bought it to that stage! It was way better than any of the times in practice last night!"

Kim looked at Ron for a few moments, then frowned disaprovingly. "Ron! Were you bothering the band while they were trying to practice?"

Ash was quick to jump to his defense though. "Bothering us? Didn't he tell you? He helped us write that song!"

Now she was surprised. "Ron?! Seriously?"

Ron waved a dismissive hand. "Just offered a little Kim expertise, that's all. These guys did all the hard work."

Guss the drummer spoke up here. "What are you talking about, Ron? You did a lot!"

"Yeah," Blue added. "You know, when I think about it, you pretty much wrote the whole thing... The music... the lyrics... almost all of it was yours."

The whole band fell silent for a few moments, then Cley spoke. "Man... that's true..."

"Yeah," Ash added. "Guess we should have given ya' more props while we were on stage... Sorry man... We were just having such a good time playing it..."

Ron laughed. "What are you talking about? That song would be nothing without you guys."

Kim just stared, then looked at Ash. "Is this really true?"

"Oh yeah. That guy wrote that song from the heart, girl! Captured you to a T."

"Word!" Blue said. "Ron here made sure everything was perfect. Made sure it was full of... what did you call it? Kimness?"

Ron hesitated and looked at Kim, who still looked shocked. Then he smiled and looked back at the band. "Yeah, but without you guys..."

"Dude!" Ash cut him off. "Quit it with the modesty! Its your song! As a matter of fact, we should probably ask you for permission to add it to our album."

"Hey of course you ca..." He was cut off when Kim ran up to him from the side and hugged him hard.

"Thanks so much Ron," she said. "That song it... it was wonderful, I... Thank you. I couldn't ask for a better friend."

Smiling, Ron hugged her back. "No big, KP. Think of it as a graduation present from me and the band."

Her arms tightened around him, and she giggled. "Best... present... ever!"

"Uh... Kim?"

"Yeah?"

"Can't breathe!"

Gasping, she released him from the hug and looked at him apologetically. "Sorry Ron. Its all the Academy training. I don't know my own strength anymore."

"No big, Kim. Crushed rib bones will heal."

She giggled at the joke, then took his arm. "Let's go and graduate, cadet Stoppable."

"Right with you cadet Possible."

XXXXX

The graduation ceremony involved Cloud standing up on stage and calling out the names of each cadet, and the rank they had achieved in the new army. The cadet would come up to stage collect a certificate, then leave. The lowest ranks were called out first, then the higher ranks last. So naturally Ron was one of the first to be called onto stage.

"Ronald Dean Stoppable," Cloud called out from the roster he was holding. "Private."

About a hundred and seventy five names later, he came to the highest ranks. He had just inducted fifteen cadets into SOLDIER, Shinra's Special Forces. Though all of them were either Third or Second Class.

"Only three cadets achieved the level of excellence this year, required for the highest rank of SOLDIER First Class," Cloud announced. "Not an easy task for any cadet in their first year. You three will be given not only the most authority among your fellow troops, but also the most responsibity. Your rank affords you a great amount of power, so... well... Just don't let it go to your head, okay?"

This got a few chuckles from the audience, before Cloud continued. "Joshua Wendell Mankey. SOLDIER First Class."

Josh stepped up, and recieved some applause from some of his fellow graduates. Unlike the other cadets before him though he recieved his uniform and equipment from Cloud, as well as a certificate. It was all black, the sleeveless jumpsuit, thick leather gloves, boots and specially reinforced shining black body armour.

"Yori Kisaragi. SOLDIER First Class."

When she stepped up, Ron cheered extra loud. "Wooo! You go girl, First Class! Yeeeaaahhh!"

Yori looked into the audience then smiled and waved at her friend. Then she took her uniform from Cloud, and stepped back down off the stage.

"And last, but certainly not least. Kimberly Anne Possible. SOLDIER First Class."

XXXXX

To be Continued...

This lazy author must apologize for making you wait so long. This chapter just didn't seem to want to be written for some reason. Stupid chapter! Anyway, the next one should be much better, and come out much sooner. Please remember to drop me a review, good or bad. I love a little praise now and again, but its the constructive criticism that helps me grow as an author. I'll try and have the next chap done by next week.

-Jawelik 


	10. Chapter 9

Rebirth: Part 9 by Jawelik -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Disney and Squaresoft. One or two minor characters may be mine, but most aren't.

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Graduation came and went so fast, many of the cadet's heads were left spinning. Not that it wasn't memorable, especially with the special performance by Element, and their awesome new song being unveiled. But as soon as it was over, everyone was issued with new uniforms and equipment, then immediately given missions to do.

Most people in Ron's ranking were sent to do basic grunt work, guard duty, and basic police work in places under Shinra's authority. Ron however was given a different task. As it turned out, each member of SOLDIER were given certain privelleges, one of which was the ability to choose a small squad of troops to back them up on their missions. Kim of course used that privelege to add Ron to her personal squad.

Kim's first task for Shinra didn't turn out to be at all gruelling however. Cloud had asked her to accompany him to a meeting with President Rufus and the other board members in Junon Harbor. Said he wished her to understand the intricacies of the new government as well as combat. Kim was happy with that, she had always had an interest in politics and international relations. She was a leader as well as a soldier, and Cloud knew this all too well.

Ron on the other hand was quite the opposite. Couldn't stand politics, which he considered too confusing. And his idea of international relations was enjoying foreign food. So Kim found him something to keep him occupied while they were in Junon.

Seems a local ocean-side bar had some problems with undesirables causing trouble. Mostly thugs and young punks looking for a fight. The idea was basically to stand Ron outside the bar's entrance. His uniform, which was made up of a black bodysuit, blue full body armor with a Shinra logo on the left side of the chest, and a helmet with black visor, made even Ron look imposing. The hope was that anyone looking to cause trouble would see the tough looking soldier guarding the door, and think better of it.

This turned out to be a bad idea. Ron hadn't been guarding the door for long before he became bored. He was holding a Shinra issue machine gun, and his trusty sword was strapped to his back. He had always hated guns however, and never bothered to load it. For him it was just for show. In time he was trying to do a few of the gun tricks he had been taught back at the Academy, though he still sucked at them.

But then he noticed a group of people walking towards the bar, and he froze. He knew all their faces. At one point during the year, General Strife had told every student about them. "These are the Turks. President Rufus' personal team of mercenaries," he had said, showing photographs of them on a projector. Then his expression had become very cold. "Take my advice. Never trust them."

Ron recognized all of them from their photographs, but didn't remember any names. The uniform would have been a dead giveaway though, they all wore the same stylish blue suits and white shirts. But there was one Turk Ron was worried about more than any of the others. One he knew very well, despite the fact she hadn't been in any of Cloud's photos.

As the five Turks approached, clearly heading for the bar Ron was guarding, he nervously stood at attention. He knew he was going pale, and he was mumbling something under his breath. "Please don't recognize me... Please God, don't let her recognize me..."

The handsome Turk with a long red ponytail spoke to the new girl as they approached. "Bonnie, my girl! We are about to show you how to celebrate, Turks style!"

"And you deserve it Bonnie," the Turk with long black hair added. Ron was pretty sure his name was Tseng, and he was the leader. "Only a few recruits were even considered for the training last year, and you were the only one to pass all of our tests. You have proven yourself over and over again that you are a true Turk!"

"About time too!" the pretty blonde haired woman said, wrapping an arm around Bonnie's shoulders and pulling her close. "We needed some more estrogen in the ranks."

The only Turk who didn't seem to have anything to say was the tough looking, tall, bald guy wearing sunglasses.

The five of them walked through the door, and Ron sighed relief as they passed him. His relief however was short lived. Because Bonnie made a fleeting glance in his direction, then stopped walking. From there she stared at him, and ever so slowly a smile spread across her face.

Ron swallowed hard, then made the mistake of turning his head and glancing back at her. "Oh... snap..."

With the other Turks behind her looking on curiously, Bonnie reached into her coat and pulled out a what appeared to be a six inch black pipe with a red button on it. Then with a flick of her wrist it extended out into a three foot long fighting rod. Placing the tip of her weapon under his visor she lifted it up from over his eyes, and Ron found himself looking into the sinister aqua colored eyes he had hoped never to see again.

"I thought I recognized those freckles," Bonnie giggled. "Hello loser."

He looked right back at her and forced a smile. Bonnie, like Kim, was one heck of a good fighter. Right up there with Josh Mankey. Unlike them though, she had no compunctions about using her skills to beat up on those weaker than her. Like Ron for example.

"Hey there, Bonbon."

The red headed guy with the ponytail stifled a laugh. "Bonbon?"

"Shut up, Reno!" Bonnie snapped, before flicking her wrist and knocking Ron's helmet off with her weapon, then lifting the point of it hard under Ron's chin. "Now how many times have I told you not to call me that?"

One of the many reasons Ron wound up getting his butt kicked by this girl back in school, was because he didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. This was going to be one of those times. He smiled meanly at her. "Sorry about that Bonbon- UGH!!"

That earned him a whack to the stomach from Bonnie's rod, which caused him to double over. "You just never learn, do you loser?"

"You know this guy, Bonnie?" Tseng asked.

She again placed the point of her rod beneath Ron's chin, then lifted his head so she could look into his eyes again. "Oh we go way back."

"Ex boyfriend, huh?" Elena asked.

That earned her a ferocious glare from Bonnie. "Ewww! Don't even think of saying anything like that again!"

Elena held up her hands in surrender. "Sorry."

She turned back to Ron and smiled again. "This guy is probably the biggest loser on the planet..." She squinted. "And from the look of those eyes, your an even bigger freak than ever!"

Reno paused as he looked at Ron from over Bonnie's shoulder. "They're... mako eyes..."

Bonnie's mean smile widened. "You know I heard you and Possible went to that Academy. Didn't think you'd last in that place for two days, let alone graduate. But..." She tapped the stripe on his sleeve with a finger. "... Lowest possible rank. That would have been my second guess. And you only got that far by riding Kim's coat tails, no doubt."

It wasn't often Ron allowed himself to get angry, but Bonnie had a knack for pushing all of his buttons. "For your inform-UGH!!"

Another whack to the stomach sent him doubling over, then she again lifted him back up by the chin. "I don't recall giving you permission to talk back to me, PRIVATE! You should know, I'm one of the Turks now! One of President Shinra's personal mercenaries! Meaning I out rank you by a mile!"

"Bonnie!" Tseng cut in. "Is this guy really worth your time? He doesn't seem like he's even close!"

"About the only thing this chump IS good for is providing me with a little amusement. Isn't that right Stoppable?" She gave him another blow to the stomach much harder than the past ones, and this time let stay doubled over holding his assaulted gut. "Oooh, what's this?"

She unsheathed the blue metal katana attached to his back and Ron looked up with shock. "Bonnie, no! Give it back!"

"I don't think a lowly private is authorized to use any weapons that aren't standard issue," she sneered. "I think I'll confiscate it."

"I have a permit for it Bonnie!" he cried, standing up straight then walking towards her. "Now give it back! Please! Come on, it was my father's!"

With a hard downwards stroke, the knocked the machine gun out of his hands. "Last I heard you had never even met your father!"

"I... no... But its all I have of him, please..."

"I think there's a forge full of molten metal in one of the weapon shops around here," she giggled evilly. "Why don't I throw this thing in there with the rest of the scrap?"

This had him running at her in an attempt to snatch his sword back. "No, you can't!" That earned yet another blow to the stomach from her Rod, then a follow through swipe to the side of the face that sent him spinning and hitting the concrete hard.

"Did you just try and attack me?" she snickered. "Attacking a member of the Turks is a serious offense, isn't it guys?"

Elena smiled and folded her arms, clearly starting to enjoy the show. "Yes it is, Bonnie. Why don't you teach him a lesson?"

Tseng frowned. "Don't you think this is a waste of time?"

"Not at all," Elena said. "Bonnie's right, losers like this aren't much good for anything more than an occasional bit of fun. Besides this is Bonnie's party, and if this is how she wants to have fun, we can let her."

Tseng shrugged. "Fair enough."

"I think it would be more fun beating this guy up if we were all drunk," Reno sighed, lifting his hands up behind his head. "Right Rude?"

"Uh-huh," Rude said simply.

"Ready for your punishment, Stoppable?" Bonnie asked, brandishing her rod in one hand and Ron's sword in the other. "No one tries to attack a Turk!"

Ron struggled back to his feet and scowled at her. "I just want my sword back!"

She looked at him thoughtfully, at his sword then back at him again. "I'll tell you what. If you can take this sword from me, I'll let you keep it. If not though, then its off to the forge we go, where I'll melt it down into something useful. Like a paper weight."

He had a determined look on his face as he stood up straight, then charged forward. Bonnie struck right away with a sideways swipe of her rod, but Ron ducked it and reached for the hand holding his sword. She pulled his sword away, and made a few more swipes with her rod. Ron however managed to dance around every attack, and again went for the sword. There was a certain clumsy kind of grace to his movements.

Tseng nodded thoughtfully as he watched. "He's pretty fast."

"Bonnie'll kick his butt easy!" Elena retorted.

"Oh, no doubt," he agreed. "Still. Its not bad for a private."

"He must really want his sword back," Reno guessed.

There were several more swipes that were dodged by Ron, but he never tried to attack her, just snatch his sword back. After a few minutes of this, he became really angry and caught the end of her weapon in mid swing. It slapped hard into his palm and he held it tight. I stung like crazy, even while wearing the thick leather gloves of his uniform. But he just glared angrily into Bonnie's eyes.

"Give me back my father's sword, Bonnie!"

A wickedly pleased smile spread across her face before she answered. "I don't wanna." Then she pressed the button on the handle of her weapon, and Ron started screaming.

Forks of lightning jumped out of the rod, and enveloped the young man holding onto the end of it. His screaming went on for a few moments, before Bonnie released the button, which stopped the flow of power and sent Ron tumbling backwards onto his back, smoking from head to toe.

Still smiling evilly, she slowly circled Ron's barely conscious body, while holding up her rod. "Man, I love this thing."

"Shinra technology at his finest," Rude said.

"So how about it, Stoppable?" Lowering the tip of the rod to touch his stomach, she pressed the button again, which caused him to arch his back and scream in agony. "Are you having fun yet? I know I am!" She shocked him again, and laughed.

"You are so pathetic!" she snapped holding up his sword to emphasize. "Can't even protect the things you care about the most." More shocking and screaming followed. "Don't worry though. As soon as you regain consciousness, you'll have a new paperweight to remember your father by."

Then she decided to get really ruthless, and just held down the button on her weapon. Ron screamed and his whole body convulsed, until something cut Bonnie off.

"HAAAHH!" Kim flew in from out of nowhere, and hit Bonnie in the stomach with a kick so hard it sent her flying off her feet, then sliding on her back across the pavement.

Kim stepped between Ron's prone body and Bonnie, then glared hatefully at her. "How many times do I have to kick your butt, Bonnie? How many times, before you learn that no one messes with my friends!"

***

Bonnie slowly hauled herself to her feet and glared right back at her rival, still holding her rod in one hand and Ron's sword in the other. "Ah, just in time as usual. Kim Possible comes along to fight her useless friend's battles for him."

Tseng smiled and folded his arms as he watched. "So. That's Cloud's famous protege. Looks like this fight just got interesting."

Elena pulled on a pair of red leather fighting gloves, and scowled. "I've heard about her too. Maybe we should back Bonnie up on this one?"

"I'd advise against it!" a new voice hissed from behind them.

The four Turks turned and paled at who they saw. "Uh," Elena stammered. "Hello General."

Cloud's eyes narrowed when he caught sight of Ron still lying and groaning on the ground. "Can't say I appreciate you Turks assaulting my troops."

Reno smirked. "Bonnie was well within her rights. The kid attacked her first."

He directed his cold glare at Reno now. "I know Stoppable, so that is very hard for me to believe." He turned and looked to Kim and Bonnie, who were now circling each other. Bonnie had tossed the sword she had stolen to the side, and was concentrating on her new opponent.

"I'm guessing that's Bonnie Rockwaller," Cloud said. "I heard she was a real piece of work... But I also hear she has a lot of talent."

Tseng smiled. "A little more experience and she could be the best."

Cloud folded his arms. "Kim's better."

"We'll see."

Both girls still circled each other with equally hateful glares. "You should know by now, Bonnie. You mess with my friends, you mess with me!"

"Fine with me, Kim. I've learned a lot of new things, I've just been aching to try out on you!"

"You're not the only one who's been learn-woah!"

Bonnie struck with her rod in mid sentence, and Kim barely managed to duck it. "Enough talking Kim! I think its time I showed you what a Turk is made of!"

"You go girl!" Elena cheered.

"Turks huh?" Kim asked, ducking around a few more attacks, then unclipping her daggers from her belt. "Can't say I'm surprised you joined them. From what I hear of them, they're just your kind of people!"

"Yeah, that's right! We're the elite! The cream of the crop! We're..."

"A bunch of low down dirty scumbags!" Kim cut her off. "Nuff said."

Bonnie growled and let off a few more strikes that were parried by Kim. Bonnie however wasn't the only one who was offended.

"Why that little," Elena fumed.

Reno pulled his own electric rod from his coat and extended it, before stalking in Kim's direction. "I'll show that..." He froze when the edge of a massive blade was lifted to his throat. Turning he saw a scowling General holding up his sword so it passed in front of Reno's neck.

"I don't think so!" he hissed.

Pausing he pushed on the end of his rod and let it shrink back down before putting it back into his coat. "Bonnie doesn't need my help anyway."

They all returned their attention to the fight, where Bonnie and Kim were exchanging hundreds of ultra fast attacks, weapons were clashing and sparks flying. Even Cloud had to admit that this Bonnie girl was pretty good. She was giving Kim more of a challenge than that Shego woman did.

"You know Kim, I can't believe you're still even hanging out with that loser! Let alone fighting for him!"

"Ron is NOT a loser!" Kim snapped, giving her a few extra hard blows to emphasize.

"Come on Kim!" she snickered evilly. "He can't do anything without your help. If not for you, the pathetic chump probably would have put himself out of his misery years ago."

Now Kim got really angry, and her attacks came even faster. "You shut up Bonnie! Don't you dare even say that!"

"Face it Kim! The only reason you're his friend is out of pity! You feel sorry for the loser who could never hope to amount to anything!"

"Shut up, Bonnie! Shut up!"

"Oooh, hit a nerve, did I? Admit it Kim, you know I'm right."

"No, Ron is..."

"She is right, you know," a new voice cut in from behind her. "I am a loser."

Kim turned around and looked at her friend who was climbing up off the ground. "Ron! Don't say that, you know its not true!"

"But it is true." He took a few steps forward, then bent over and picked up his sword from the floor and looked at it. "I can't do anything right. Can't even protect the things and the people I love... If the roles were reversed, and it was you who was in trouble, I... I..."

"You wouldn't have a hope of helping her, would you?" Bonnie giggled.

"No... I wouldn't..."

"Ron don't listen to her!"

"Why not?" he whispered, still staring at his father's sword. "She's right."

"No she's not Ron!" Kim snapped. "You've saved me plenty of times!"

"Yeah," he said bitterly. "Mostly from situations that were my fault to begin with."

"You know that's not true... well... not entirely! But you've also done a lot of wonderful things. Like that song you wrote me!"

"That song... was a joke... Would've been nothing without that band playing it... Its just another example of me riding the coat tails of better people in order to get by..."

"Stop it Ron! Why are you talking like this? You've never talked like this!"

"Maybe... maybe I'm just starting to accept the truth. Maybe I'm through kidding myself."

"You really realize now don't you, Stoppable?" Bonnie said, still smiling widely. "Kim here is better off without you."

"Y... yeah... She is." And with that he ran off into a nearby alley.

"Ron no! Wait, come back!"

Cloud tried to cut him off. "Hold up there Stoppable! Stoppable! Ron, I said wait!" He pushed past the General, who just watched him run off into the alley. Then he turned and glowered at Bonnie, as he spoke to her colleagues. "I don't think I like that girl."

Turning from the alley, Kim looked at Bonnie with a ferocious look. "Okay, now you've done it!" She struck with both daggers at once, and Bonnie blocked with her rod. Then the two were pushing at each other, Kim pushing forward with her daggers and Bonnie holding her back with her weapon.

"You hurt my friend! No one hurts my friends!"

"Awww, poor little Kim," Bonnie giggled. "You know your little lap dog will be back at your heels in no time. Like that loser could find friends anywhere else."

Kim just growled as her whole body started to glow red, and Bonnie's feet started to slide backwards along the concrete. There was going to be no more talk from Kim now.

Bonnie started giggling, then started glowing with her own purple energy, and took a few forward steps. "You really think you can take me Kim? I'm ten times stronger than I was in High Sch..." She trailed off when she again started sliding backwards, and Kim's fiery red glow grew more intense. Bonnie started struggling hard to push back, but Kim just seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.

"Just you wait Kim! As soon as I get my second wind I'll..." She gasped as Kim's energy alone started pushing her back, enveloping Bonnie's purple glow, then she noticed her eyes were glowing ruby red. "Oh... this is so not good!"

With a suddenness that shocked everyone, Kim's energy exploded outwards and sent Bonnie airborne and out over the ocean. And she kept flying until she was little more than a speck on the horizon which fell into the water.

"Bonnie!" Elena cried worriedly.

"Wow," Reno commented, nodding his head. "That was a pretty good distance."

Cloud failed to hold back a smirk. "Hmph. Hope she's a strong swimmer."

Rude just stepped forward and looked at the others. "So. We renting a boat?"

"That we are," Tseng said. "Come on Turks."

Reno turned and waved as he followed the others. "Later General."

Cloud made no move to return the goodbye. Kim looked out over the horizon, then she gasped and ran down the nearby alley. "Ron!"

Cloud watched her leave, and decided to let her handle it. Ron was her friend after all. Not his.

***

Ron sat down against one of the walls in Junon's maze of alleyways, with his head in his hands. Tears were running down his face. What was wrong with him? Kim had been right, he had never talked like that before. Was usually pretty happy with himself and his Ron'ness. It had started to get different lately, though.

The nightmares, the ones he had been having all his life. They were getting worse. The monster from his nightmares was doing more, talking to him, saying so many of the things Bonnie had said. And more. And Ron had started to believe them. This wasn't like him at all, but sometimes lately he had even heard the voice while he was awake. Like earlier, the voice was agreeing with everything Bonnie had said, convincing Ron they were true.

"Feeling down, Ron?" the voice asked.

His eyes snapped open and he looked around. "Who's there?"

"Sick of being hated? Ridiculed? Pitied?"

He flinched at the last one. The voice was so much clearer and sharper than usual. Was this the monster from his nightmares? Had to be.

"Who are you?"

"I'm your friend Ron. I want to help you."

"I..." He hesitated. "Help me how?"

"You're weak because you choose to be. People step on you and pity you, because you allow it. You have power, Ron. Great power. And deep down you know that."

"I... I have no power."

"You know you do. All your life you've feared it. But now its time to let go of your fear."

Again he hesitated. "M... my nightmares... That power isn't real... And even if it was, I would never..."

"Oh its real. So real! The reason you're weaker than most is because you fear becoming that which inhabits your nightmares. But its that monster that isn't real Ron. You have nothing to fear from the power. You are no longer a child. It is time to become a man."

"I... can't. The risk..."

"Is worth it. What good has holding back your true potential done for you? Are you happy? Do you even have an ounce of respect from anyone?"

"I have friends..."

"They pity you. Poor pathetic Ron Stoppable."

"Yori... She never pitied me."

"True... But what did she do in order to try and stay with you?"

He sighed. "She held herself back."

"You see Ron? You are either pitied, or you drag the ones you love down with you. Is that really what you want?"

"No."

"You lost Yori. Its only a matter of time before you lose Kim too."

"I..."

"You don't seriously think she could love someone like you, do you?"

"I... never wanted her to..."

"Don't lie to yourself Ron. Do you want her to love you?"

"... Yes..."

"Do you want the power? The only thing that will make you worthy of her? Of any true respect?"

"I... Yes..."

"Then I will help you unlock it. Just do as I say, and you will know true happiness."

He paused and spent a few moments just silently breathing.

"Ron?" the voice asked.

"Okay... What do I have to do?"

***

Kim searched through the maze-like network of alleyways for a good few minutes before she found Ron sitting up next to the wall, talking to himself.

"Okay... What do I have to do?"

"Ron? Are you okay?"

He looked up at her, and didn't say anything. His eyes lacked their usual cheerful warmth, but he didn't look totally miserable anymore either. "I get the feeling I'm going to be much better soon."

"Um... That's good, Ron. Why don't we get some food, I know that always cheers you up."

He stood up and started walking away. "Not right now. I have some stuff to do."

"But Ron. Can't we talk?"

He kept walking and she watched him turn a corner and out of sight. "Later, Kim."

***

Once turning that corner Ron bumped into someone unfamiliar. A man with long black hair, a red scarf wrapped around the bottom half of his face, and a torn red cape. One of his hands and both of his feet were made of golden metal, and he looked right at him with reddish brown eyes.

Ron stood there and stared at him for a few moments. "Can I help you?"

"You're on a very dangerous path, Ron Stoppable. Turn back now, before its too late."

Ron stared a little longer, then rudely pushed past the man. "Thanks for the advice."

Ron was clearly ignoring the advice, and as he walked away the man turned and watched him retreat. Then ever so slowly he pulled a large gun from under his cape, aimed it at the back of Ron's head and started to squeeze the trigger. Ron continued to walk away, oblivious, and Vincent Valentine knew that this had to be done...

But he couldn't. He had ample time to fire, but Ron turned another corner and out of sight. Sighing, he lowered his weapon, then returned it to the folds of his cape. He couldn't help but think he had just made a big mistake.

Turning he started to walk in the opposite direction to Ron, only to bump into someone else the moment he turned a corner. The girl looked up at him with startled green eyes. "Um... Hi?"

"Kim Possible."

Now she looked really creeped out. "Do I know you?"

"You're a good friend, Kim. And Ron is going to need that friendship more than ever. Keep an eye on him." With that, he walked off and disappeared around another corner.

After composing herself Kim ran after him. "Wait! Who are you?! How do you know..." She trailed off when she came around the corner and the man had just vanished. She looked around for a few moments then she frowned. "... Okay... That is REALLY creepy."

***

Following the mysterious voice, Ron came to Junon Harbor's massive underground parking garage. He stepped up to Kim's big motor cycle, then opened the compartment beneath the seat. As always, Kim had a set of their old mission clothes stashed there. Ron changed out of his uniform and into the cargoes, black T and boots.

"Now," the voice said. "Take the bike. We have a long journey ahead of us."

He looked at Kim's beloved motorcycle, then he turned and looked at another one that was parked beside it. Equally big, though it looked much more expensive, and was obviously custom made. It was Cloud's.

"No. I wanna take that one instead."

There was a pause. "Fine. Whatever you want, Ron."

Ron smiled. "Booyah."

***

"When I get my hands on her, and her loser sidekick, they're both gonna die!" Bonnie screamed. She was sitting in a speed boat with the other Turks, toweling off her wet hair. She had been swimming in the ocean for almost a hour before being rescued.

"You'll get your own back, Bonnie. Don't you worry," Elena assured. "The Turks always do."

Tseng's cell phone rang, and he pulled it from his coat pocket and put it to his ear. "This is Tseng... Whatever you need sir..." He listened, then nodded as he smiled right at Bonnie who was still toweling herself off. "I understand sir. I have the perfect person for the job. Consider it done." He snapped the phone shut and put it back into his coat.

"The President?" Rude asked.

"Yes. Looks like you get your chance at revenge sooner than expected, Bonnie."

She looked at her boss and smiled. "Yeah?"

"Seems that Stoppable kid knocked out the guy guarding the parking garage, and made off with General Strife's cherished motor cycle. And the President doesn't stand for such treasonous acts."

She snickered evilly. "Cool. I drove him crazy... I'll get right on it, sir."

"Take the chopper. You'll reach him before anyone else in that thing. And take my advice, Bonnie. Rough the guy up as much as you like, just try not to kill him."

She giggled wickedly. "I make no promises."

***

To be continued...

Ok, hope this was to your liking. Please review and give me some feedback. I've come too far in this story to give it up now, so my promise still stands, I'm not going to stop until its finished. I should have the next chapter up within a week. Two weeks at the latest. I look forward to reading you review.

-Jawelik 


	11. Chapter 10

Rebirth: Part 10 by Jawelik

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Disclaimer: You should all know the whole disclaimer drill by now. But if you really must see it again, check one of my earlier chapters. The all purpose disclaimer I've been using so far was just getting a little old and repetitive. Enjoy Part 10.

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Author's Note: Just a quick apology to my readers. I read through my previous chapter and realized that I said this was going to be out in two weeks at the most... Man, I totally spaced on that one. Sorry. I know, I'm a liar, and deserve to go to fanfic author's Hell, where the writer's block and flames never cease. Please forgive this lowly writer, and enjoy the newest chapter.

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Whoever the voice in Ron's head was, it had nothing to do with him going crazy. That became clear from the directions the voice had been giving him. Whoever it was, knew his way around places Ron had never been to before.

"We're going to the City of the Ancients," the voice had told him. And with those directions, it wasn't more than a day before he arrived at the gates to the ruined city. He parked his stolen bike and walked into the deserted ruins.

Everything seemed to have been made out of a strong white, glass-like substance, even the road he was walking down. It was in pretty good condition for a city that was many thousands of years old, though much of it was over grown with foliage. The buildings he passed were beautifully built structures, that resembled colossal sea shells. And though Ron found himself liking the place right away, he still had more important things to think about.

He came to the central building, the largest of the sea shells, which had a large lake of what appeared to be mako tinged water out in front of it. And from here he just went with his instincts. He stepped into the lake, which started to blacken upon contact with him. Already he could feel a great deal of power rising up within him. And it wasn't like it was coming from an outside source, it was like a long dormant power within him being awakened. He wasn't scared of it anymore. Wasn't holding it back.

"That's it Ron," the voice said, sinisterly. "You know what you have to do. Claim your birthright!"

He was waist deep in the blackened mako-water now, and looked down at it. Slowly cupping his hands, he lifted some of the liquid out of the lake, and started to bring it to his lips.

"Ron! No!"

He hesitated. It was yet another voice within his mind, and he recognized it right away. "... Aeris."

"Ron please! Think about this!"

"Don't listen to her!" the other voice snapped.

He looked down at the glimmering black liquid sloshing around in his hands. To his eyes it looked like the promise of raw power. The promise of a great destiny, which involved real respect. Real happiness. Real love. For the first time in his life, Ron was thinking of himself, and no one else. For the first time, he was being selfish.

"Don't try and stop me, Aeris. This is my destiny."

"No Ron! You know what will happen! You know what you're about to do is wrong!"

He hesitated again. "Yes... It is wrong... But doing what's right... What good has that ever done me?" He lifted the liquid to his lips and started to drink, and Aeris' voice screamed then started to fade from his mind.

"NO!! ... Ron. What have you done?"

From the moment it touched his tongue he felt pure energy rise up from within him, and then his entire body burst into blue-black flames. It didn't hurt though, it felt incredible to burn. His power grew and continued to grow to what felt like an infinite amount.

Thousands of blue sparks rose up from the liquid around him, swirling around him and up into the heavens. Holding his arms out, his power lifted him up into the air, and he floated there a good twenty feet from the lake's surface, with a whirlwind of thousands of brightly glowing sparks twisting around his body. And as the most incredible sensation of true power filled him, he did the one thing his very soul commanded him to do.

He laughed. Long loud, and in a new, deeper more sinister voice. The voice from his nightmares.

Ron Stoppable had just been reborn.

XXXXX

When the whirlwind slowly dispersed, Ron floated down into the lake, then waded back onto the bank. And when he looked up, he came face to face with someone who bought an instant smile to his face. The girl smiled back and giggled excitedly.

"Grand theft auto, Stoppable. From one of Shinra's most powerful executives, no less. I do believe that gives me the authority to beat you to within an inch of your life."

Ron stared into her eyes, still smiling, then clipped his sunglasses onto the bridge of his nose. "Hello Bonbon."

She scowled hatefully. "I'm gonna rip your throat out, so you can never call me that again!"

He chuckled in his deep new voice. "Sounds like a blast, baby. Bring it on."

Bonnie pulled her Shinra Rod from her coat, and extended it to its full length with a flick of her wrist. "Prepare for pain, loser!"

He slid his sword out from the sheath on his back, then held it up in front of his face. "Tell you what, Bonbon. How's about we play a little game? You have three chances to take this sword off me again. If you succeed, you can do whatever you want with it. Melt it down; whatever. If you fail though, I get to... well... kill you."

His confidence seemed to startle her a little. "Did your voice just break, or something?"

He chuckled again. "Something like that."

"Yeah, well whatever! Like I need three chances to take your pathetic butt down!" She ran forward and stabbed at his chest with her weapon. Ron didn't move a muscle, just let the point of her weapon jab hard into his chest, whereupon Bonnie pushed the button on the handle. Forks of lightning energy flew out from the rod, and jumped over every inch of Ron's body.

But still he didn't move. Just stood there, still staring, still smiling right into Bonnie's shocked eyes, as the electricity jumped harmlessly over him. Did nothing more than make the lenses of his sunglasses glow white and his hair to kick up.

Her eyes went wide. "What the hell?"

"Strike one, Bonbon," he said calmly. "You have two chances left."

She scowled again, then pulled a second Shinra rod from her coat, which she flicked to its full length. "You think electric proof clothing's gonna protect you from me?! Then you're an even bigger loser than I thought!"

A glowing electric rod in each hand now, she launched a relentless assault of blows and jabs at Ron's every weak spot. And still he just stood there, arms folded, still smiling. Not a single one of Bonnie's numerous attacks missed its mark, but Ron didn't even wince. She stopped and looked into her reflection in his sunglasses, when she raised the tips of both of her rods into his groin as a final move. Ron just smiled, and Bonnie looked absolutely stupefied.

"Are you trying to tell me that didn't hurt? Not even a little bit?"

Ron just continued to stare. "Two strikes. One chance left."

With a growl, she jumped back and held her weapons out to her sides. Then she started to glow with intense purple limit energies. "Okay Stoppable! I hate to admit it, but I'm impressed! But if you think that means I'm going get beat by the likes of you, you have another thing coming! I'm a Turk!"

Once again her weapons erupted with electrical energy, only this time there was much more of it, and it had gained a purple tinge. She crossed her rods together which amplified the energy even more, then with a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning flew at her enemy. It was fed into his body as a steady stream, which caused his whole body to crackle with purple power. Then once he was fully charged, she ran in and made a multitude of lightning fast attacks, each blow causing sparks of electricity to jump off wherever she hit him.

Still Ron didn't move, didn't even seem to feel any of the attacks. Bonnie jumped a good distance away with a back somersault, then pointed at him with the tip of her rod, and pressed the button on the handle. Again she was smiling cruelly.

"Bye bye, now."

Ron exploded magnificently into a burst of purple fire, light and energy. It was so intense, it engulfed the entire area with a thick cloud of dust from the ground around him. Bonnie had to lift her arms to protect her face when the wall of dust came flying at her, then enveloped her and much of the surrounding landscape.

Never thought she'd have to use her deadliest attack to bring down Ron Stoppable. She still hated to admit it, but she really had been impressed. And something she found surprising, was that as she watched him explode she came to realize something. As much as she hated and tormented the guy, she had never actually had any desire to kill him. Maim? Probably. Injure? Definitely. But kill? No. And that surprised her.

Unwillingly she started to remember things he'd said to her in high school. "You got it going on, Bonbon... You sure showed those Upperton snobs... You know Bonbon, there are times even I have to admit that you really rock..."

It was the first time she really focused on the times he'd said things like that. She had usually brushed it off as sarcasm, and retorted with a particularly cruel remark. But now. It kinda hurt thinking she was never gonna hear that loser's voice ever again. And then she remembered something else he had said, that made her blood run cold. "If you fail though, I get to... well... kill you."

He had really meant that. She had seen the seriousness in his eyes. No way the Ron she knew would ever say something like that. Not even to her. What had happened...

"Strike three, Bonbon," a dark voice chuckled from within the lingering dust cloud. "You lose!"

A large hand seemed to just materialize from the thick dust, which flew right at her and clasped around her throat. She gasped and was lifted from the ground, choking, watching with fear as the rest of his imposing visage stepped out into view.

He held up his sword with his free hand so she could see it, and smiled evilly. "Looks like its time to die."

That goofy Ron quality was gone; that boundless warmth that had always been there, but Bonnie had never noticed had been completely drained from him. And she came to realize something, as his hand tightened around her throat. This wasn't Ron.

She dropped her rods, and tried to claw at his wrists with her nails. It was like clawing at solid steel, and again she looked into her frightened reflection in his silver sunglasses. "Wh... who are you?"

His smile widened. "Me? I'm Ron. The true Ron." To Bonnie's shock and surprise, he thrust his sword forward, and drove it into her stomach. It passed right through her, and she screamed long and loud. And when her screams finally subsided, she heard him chuckling again, and whispering into her ear.

"Who's the loser now?"

XXXXX

After fifteen minutes of roughing up the badly wounded young woman, Ron threw her roughly to the ground, where she curled up and groaned in agony. This earned her no sympathy from Ron though.

"Please Ron," she whimpered, with her blood drenched hands holding the wound in her stomach. "Stop it. I'm sorry."

He stepped forward, and his shadow cast itself over her body. "No. You're not. But you will be." He held up his sword, which was glistening with her blood.

"I... I don't wanna die."

He tapped the back of his sword against he shoulder as the thought about that. At some point it had lost the blue glow it had always had, and gained a threatening looking red one in its place.

"You know what, Bonbon? I'm feeling generous. So I'll give you a choice. A quick merciful death? Or slow and painful?"

Her eyes went wide. She was really, really scared now. "Ron..."

"Just let me remind you, that slow and painful will increase the chances that someone will come along to save you."

She swallowed hard. The scariest part of that, was the fact that it was true. That if she chose the easy way out there was no saving her. That she would actually have to request a slow and painful death from Ron in order to have a chance. But she was no coward. She may have been scared, but she wasn't going to allow that to stop her from doing what needed to be done.

"Torture me all you like! But you wont get away with this!"

Ron bared glistening white teeth in a broad smile. "So you choose the slow death, huh? Brave girl... But I'm afraid I just remembered that I have some things to do, and I'm short on time. So I'm gonna change my mind, and just kill you here and now."

"What?! But..."

He clasped the handle of his sword in both hands, and raised it above his head. "I don't think I'll even leave you with the dignity of an open casket. I'm going to mess up that pretty face of yours, Bonbon."

"No! Don't! Please don't!"

He chuckled darkly as he bought down his sword on her head, and she screamed and lifted her hands to defend herself. "Bye bye, now."

CLANG!!

Instead of being buried into flesh and bone, his sword collided with more metal. At the very last moment, someone jumped to a place over Bonnie's body, and saved her from imminent death. Ron smiled warmly at Bonnie's rescuer. She was decked out in her sleek, state of the art black body armor, with Shinra logo. Her SOLDIER field uniform.

"Oh. Hi Kim."

She looked absolutely stupefied as she looked into his sunglasses. "Ron?! What the hell are you doing?!"

Still smiling, he pulled his sword away from where it was locked with her daggers. "Something you've been telling me to do for years. I'm standing up for myself."

"But you were about to kill her!" she snapped.

He chuckled as if that meant nothing to him. "Yeah... Now, could you please step aside, so I can finish her off, and be on my way?"

She looked at him with disbelieving eyes. "Ron... What's wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me?" he snickered. "Nothing. I've never felt better."

"But this isn't you!" she argued.

"It is now... So, are you going to get out of my way, Kim? I wanna off Bonbon."

She raised her daggers, and scowled at him. "I'm not gonna let you do that, Ron!"

He paused and looked back at her curiously. "Let me get this straight, Kim... Are you asking me to spare Bonbon's life? Even after all she's done to the both of us?"

"No," she hissed back. "I'm TELLING you!"

There was a moment of silence as they just glared at each other. Kim looked more than ready to fight her best friend, for the life of her nemesis. But in time, Ron just smiled warmly and returned his sword to the sheath on his back.

"Okay," he said simply, before turning and walking towards the city gates. "If that's what you want, Kim."

She was startled by that. "What? Just like that?"

"Sure," he said, as he continued to walk off. "We're still best buds, you know."

"Wait Ron! Where are you going?!"

He didn't stop walking as he answered. "I have some stuff to do, Kim. I'll see you later."

Again she held up her daggers threateningly. "I... I don't think I can let you go, Ron! You have a lot to answer for!"

Stopping, he turned and looked at her. "Well... If that's the way you feel Kim... You're free to come with."

She lowered her weapons again and stared. "Really?"

"Sure. You should know you're always free to hang with me." He paused for a few moments, then pointed at the wounded girl on the ground behind Kim. "But you might wanna know, if someone doesn't put some pressure on that wound in Bonbon's stomach, she's gonna bleed to death."

Kim turned and gasped, then she dropped to her knees, and put her hands over the wound. Not only was she the daughter of one of the best doctors on the planet, but she'd had ample training in the field of battlefield medicine, so she knew what to do.

"Ron! What the hell has happened to you?!" she gasped, as she worked to stifle Bonnie's bleeding.

He started to walk away backwards, with an evil smile. "I decided I was sick of being a loser... Later Kim." He turned and walked off, as Kim watched.

Bonnie reached up and grabbed Kim's wrist, and she looked down into her eyes. "Kim," she gasped. "That isn't Ron."

Kim nodded. "I know, Bonnie." Then she reached up with a free hand, and tapped the transmitter in her ear. "General?"

"I read you," Cloud's voice replied. "Did you find him?"

"Yes sir. And we need a med-evac five minutes ago."

There was a worried pause. "He's hurt?"

"No. He tried to kill Bonnie, and she's bleeding bad!"

Another pause, this one more surprised. "That doesn't sound like something Ron would do. Or COULD do for that matter."

"I know sir. There's something critically wrong with him! He's heading for the gates to the city... Please General... Cloud... I've got a ferociously bad feeling about this. You have to stop him."

"Consider it done, Kim. I'm on my way."

XXXXX

Ron had a smug smile on his face as he stepped up to Cloud's motorcycle. He ran his hand over the front mudguard, which was shaped like a mean looking monster's head. Then a voice spoke up behind him.

"I'm afraid I can't let take my bike again, Ron."

Widening his smile, Ron slowly turned to face his superior, who had his massive sword ready in his hand. "Hello General."

Cloud scowled. There was a lot of disappointment and judgement in his expression. "What's gotten into you?"

"Into me?" he asked, with a snicker. "If anything's gotten into me, its power!" He held out his arms to his sides and stretched. "And it feels good!"

Cloud's frown deepened. "Whatever this power is, kid, its not a good thing. You tried to kill someone. And that's not you."

Ron stared for a few moments before answering. "Not the old me, perhaps. But you'd be surprised how liberating it can be, to lose something like your conscience."

Cloud seemed a little taken of guard by this revelation, but then he sighed, and held up his sword. "If what you say is true, Ron, I'm afraid I have no choice. You're under arrest."

"Am I now?" he chuckled, as he pulled his sword from the sheath on his back. "You know what General, I invite you to try and arrest me. I've been curious to see how powerful the new me really is. I wanna see how I measure up to the best."

With both hands clasping the handle of his sword now, Cloud got ready for battle. "Just come quietly Ron. I don't want to fight you."

"But I wanna fight you, General. How about we make a deal. You win, you can arrest me, and get your bike back. But if I win, I get to keep the bike and... I might kill you... I dunno, haven't really decided yet."

Taking this really seriously, Cloud held up his weapon in front of him. "Who are you?!"

He smiled. "I'm the true Ron."

"I liked the old Ron better," he hissed.

He chuckled again at that. "Of course you did... He wasn't a threat."

Without warning Ron attacked, and he moved so fast not even Cloud could follow it. He just seemed to vanish, then instantly reappear right in front of him. Swinging the glowing red lotus blade like a baseball bat, he hit Cloud's sword so hard his arms nearly left their sockets.

Cloud was knocked from his feet and sent flying backwards. It took a great deal of strength and control for him to flip over in mid air, then skid backwards across the ground. He had been in a lot of battles in his life, more than most people, and he had fought the worst of the worst. But not even he had ever been hit that hard.

He looked up at Ron, shock clear in his expression. "Where did that power come from?"

Ron smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know." Even now, after Cloud had been knocked back a good fifteen yards away, Ron only took a split second to get to him. Moving so fast, he just seemed to disappear, then reappear right in front of his opponent. And from the moment he was in range, he was attacking with ultra fast swipes of his sword. Cloud did his best to block, but Ron was just too fast!

The General was knocked backwards onto the ground within seconds. And before he could return to his feet, Ron had knocked the sword from his hands with a ludicrously powerful sideways swipe of his blade. He stepped down hard on Cloud's chest, then bought the tip of the lotus blade to his throat, smiling wickedly.

"Hmph. Pathetic."

Cloud was speechless. No way the Ron he knew could come even close to doing something like that. Not only was he fast, but his technique was absolutely flawless. Like a seasoned warrior, who knew nothing but combat. And that definitely didn't describe Ron.

"That was truly disappointing. I would have expected Shinra's almighty General to put up more of a fight."

Cloud lowered his eyes to look at the tip of the sword which was still held to his throat, then up to the reflective lenses of Ron's sunglasses. "So what now? Are you going to kill me?"

He paused and contemplated that. "I'm conflicted. Half of me really wants to. But the other half thinks that killing the legendary Cloud Strife so quickly would be boring." He stared for a few moments more, and that evil smile once again spread across his face. "I think it would be much more fun to let you live, so you can watch helplessly as I destroy everything you love. Watch, knowing you can do nothing to stop me."

Cloud still stared. "Ron. Why would you even do that?

He lowered the Lotus Blade and stepped back. "Why? Because I can." He turned and walked off towards Cloud's bike again. "Looks like this baby's mine now," he said, gently stroking the monster shaped mud guard again. Then he paused and turned to look back at Cloud. "You know what, though. I'm starting to think with my new power, I don't even need this bike anymore."

He stepped forward a few paces, then held his arms out from his sides. A wind kicked up beneath him, and caused his hair to fly around in all directions. Then slowly an invisible force lifted him from the ground. He was flying.

Looking down at his boots, which hovered a few feet above the soil, he started to chuckle evilly. "Now _that_ is cool."

He raised his eyes to look at Cloud, who looked back with amazement. Then he pointed at him, as he started to raise higher off the ground. "Goodbye Cloud. I look forward to seeing you again, on the battlefield. Bring your worst!"

"Ron wait! Unh!" He was cut off when Ron flew off towards the horizon so fast, that he kicked up a deafening sonic boom. Within seconds he was a vanishing speck in the distance. And even after he was completely gone, Cloud stared off in that direction with a look of dread on his face.

"This can't be good."

XXXXX

After sending Cloud after Ron, Kim was confident that everything would work out. So she waited with Bonnie, until the medical helicopter landed nearby, and the Shinra medics took over. And as she watched them work, she had to admit that Shinra Inc really had done a lot of good since being re-established. The newly designed med kits the medics were using were portable, but contained the equivalent to a room full of medical equipment. They had Bonnie patched up and stable in no time. She quietly suggested to herself to see if she can use her influence as Cloud's protege to send one of those kits home to her mother.

After finishing with Bonnie and sedating her, the medics carefully lifted her in a stretcher towards the chopper. Kim followed along worriedly. She may never have gotten on with Bonnie Rockwaller; even admitted to down-right hating her at times. Didn't mean she took any pleasure at seeing her badly wounded though.

"Is she going to be okay?" Kim asked.

The medic nodded. "Oh yeah. The sword didn't pass through any bones or organs. She got lucky. Would've been much worse if you hadn't stifled her bleeding though, ma'am. Nice job."

"So she's going to be fine?"

"Definitely. Full recovery, guaranteed. Especially for her."

She paused, a little confused. "Especially for her?"

"Well this is just a rumor, but I hear President Rufus treats his Turks like family. So much as a scrape on the knee, and no expense is spared in their recovery. Probably why they're all so loyal to him... Anyway, you don't have to worry. She'll be well taken care of."

Kim nodded. She hated to admit it, but she didn't like hearing that Bonnie was going to be getting such special treatment. If she was going to be just fine anyway, why should she be getting babied by the President? It was kinda her fault Ron had gone all nutso anyway! Stupid Bonnie!

As usual, as soon as the person she was worried about was fine, Kim was back to her usual self again. And now that she was, she remembered Ron again. He would be fine, though. Cloud would stop him, then they could get to work making him better again. And on cue, she heard a beep from the transmitter in her ear. She tapped it to open the connection.

"Yes General?"

"Ugh... Is that med-evac still there?"

She hesitated. "Yeah. They're about to leave though. Why?"

"Tell them to hold on would you?"

She held up her hand and signaled the medics with a military hand gesture which meant 'wait.' Now she was really worried. "What's wrong?" She was surprised when she found herself getting angry at her mentor. "You didn't hurt Ron did you?!"

"Kim," he groaned over the transmitter. "Turn around."

She did, and gasped at what she saw. Off in the distance was Cloud Strife, his clothes soaked with blood, limping towards her like it was taking all his energy just doing that. Put simply he looked like crap.

"Sir!" she cried, running up to him. She turned as she ran, just long enough to beckon the medics, who jumped out of the chopper again with the medical kit she had been admiring earlier. When she reached him, he collapsed forward, and she caught him, and slowly fell to her knees, and lay him down on her lap.

"Sir, what happened? Did Ron do this?"

"I..." He paused and thought about it. "It looked like Ron. But he fought like a demon."

"But no one can beat you, sir!"

He smiled slightly at that. "Hey, I'm not all powerful, you know... But even I have to admit that I haven't been beaten this bad in a long time... I've never fought anyone or anything so powerful... Not even Sephiroth."

She was only in a state of disbelief for a few moments, before she remembered he was wounded. "Okay, but maybe we should talk about this after you get patched up."

He nodded. "Okay Kim."

"Do you need anything?" she asked.

"Pain killers would be nice. He cut me up pretty good."

"Right on it, General," the medic said as he arrived, and opened up his med kit. "We'll had you good as new, ASAP."

He then grabbed Kim's wrist. "Kim. My wounds may put me out of commission for a while, so its up to you."

Kim stared. "Um... Ok..."

"I want you to do all you can to find out what happened to Ron. The full resources of Shinra are at your disposal."

She nodded. "And don't try confront him on your own, Kim, you got that?"

"What? But Ron's..."

"I don't know what happened, but its bad. I know that!" Cloud interrupted. "Your first priority is to find out what's wrong with him! To find out what we're dealing with."

She nodded again. "Yes sir. I'll get right on it."

"No need for that, Miss Possible," a new voice cut in. The man in the red cape just seemed to appear out of nowhere. "I already know what has happened to Ron Stoppable."

Kim and Cloud both looked up at the new arrival.

"You again?" Kim said, suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"Vincent!" Cloud gasped.

"You know this guy?" Kim asked.

He nodded. "He's a friend of mine."

"Really? He kinda gives me the heeby jeebies..." She turned and looked apologetically to the frowning man after saying that. "Er... No offense though..."

He stared for a few moments with those reddish brown eyes. "None taken."

"Vincent!" Cloud said again. "You know what's happened to Ron? How?"

With a look of guilt in his eyes, he sighed and looked to the ground. "Because, Cloud. I am the one responsible."

XXXXX

To be continued...

Okay once again, sorry for the ludicrously long wait. Hope it was worth it. I am still determined to finish this, so don't worry. Just hope I'm managing to keep my readers interested. I'll try not to lie to you again about when the next chapter will be done. But I will try to do it faster this time. Anyway please review, and feel free to flame me for my blatant lie at the end of the last chapter, as I feel I kinda deserve it. =P Look forward to hearing from you.

-Jawelik


	12. Chapter 11

Rebirth: Part 11 by Jawelik -----------------------------------------------------------------------

The drugs administered by the field medics worked fast. The pain faded, then vanished and before he knew it he had fallen into a deep unconsciousness. The last thing he remembered was Vincent saying something about the Ron predicament being his fault.

Upon waking, he found himself in a bed, in one of Shinra's newly built hospitals. Sitting to the right of his bed was Kim, looking relieved to see him awake. And in the bed the left of him, was the Turk's newest member, Bonnie Rockwaller. Seemed she had only just woken up too.

"Sir? How do you feel?" Kim asked, worriedly.

Cloud thought about it. "I feel like I've been turned inside out, put through a meat grinder then dipped in vinegar..." He gave a good natured to his protege. "Other than that though, I'm feeling just fine."

She smiled back. "So. Same old, same old, huh?"

He nodded, still smiling. He really hadn't noticed his personal changes much over the last year or two. It didn't seem that long ago it was unimaginable for Cloud Strife to so much as smile, let alone crack a joke. But he was pretty happy with the man he was becoming. No longer the loner, he was a lucky man with many people he could call friends. Family even.

His pleasant thoughts came to a halt, when he watched Kim's smile fall from her face, in favor of a sad frown. And he knew instantly what was wrong. Felt a pang of worry himself in fact... Ron.

"Ah good, you're both awake," someone said pleasantly, as he entered the room.

Everyone looked at the handsome blonde man in the white suit. Rufus Shinra.

Bonnie sat up, despite the wound in her stomach, wincing in pain when she did. "Mr President!"

"Easy now," he said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and guiding her back down onto her back. "Can't have you aggravating that wound more than necessary, now can we? So just lay still."

She just nodded obediently. "Yes Sir."

Cloud frowned. One thing that had always been made abundantly clear, was that he never much liked the President. And he had never been very good at hiding that fact. "What do you want, Rufus?"

His smile was charming, but more of a dishonest politician kind of charm. Kim and Cloud both could see right through it. "What do you mean, General? Two of Shinra's most valued employees have been wounded, and I'm here to ensure you are given the best treatments available." He turned to the door at this. "Bring in the shots Doctor!"

A Middle aged man with dark hair, streaked with grey walked in with a metal briefcase. Placing it on a small bench at the end of Cloud's bed, he opened it to reveal mostly grey padding, holding two small syringes filled with yellow fluid. Pulling one out, he gently pushed the plunger, expelling small amounts of liquid, then flicked the tip of the needle with a finger. He then found a vein in Bonnie's arm, administered the shot, and repeated the process on Cloud with the second syringe.

"This may burn for a short while," he murmured.

Cloud opened and closed his fist after the shot then looked at Rufus. He was definitely starting to feel a slight burn in his veins. "Going to tell what that was exactly?"

"That my friend, it the latest development in Shinra's medical technology. Healing nanites."

Cloud's frown deepened. "You mean you just injected us with microscopic robots?"

The President nodded. "Each shot it programmed with your individual physical makeup. So healing that would have normally taken weeks, will only take a few days at the most."

Bonnie looked a little unsure about this, but held her tongue. Rufus noticed her apprehensive look though, and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Bonnie. It's been fully tested, and approved. There are zero side effects."

This seemed to calm her, and Kim found herself smiling. Though she had never been seriously into medicine, she still had a lot of her mother in her. So new medical advancements often interested her. "Wow. Think of all the good we can do with that technology. When are you going to start to distribute it to other hospitals?"

"Not for some time, I'm afraid," Rufus said, with that false looking smile of his. "The technology is still new and therefore too expensive to mass produce. Currently it costs approximately 30 million gil a shot."

Everyone sat up with shock at that revelation, Cloud and Bonnie both groaning with pain from the sudden movement. "30 million?!" Cloud gasped.

"Isn't that a little extravagant, just to shave some healing time?" Kim asked.

Bonnie the ever obedient Turk, did not question her boss. Even though she currently had enough money to buy her own island running through her veins.

"Not at all. I need my best agents on their feet as soon as possible. Because we seem to be approaching a crisis."

"You have no idea how right you are, Mr President."

Everyone turned to see the source of the new voice, of someone who had somehow managed to enter the room unnoticed.

"Vincent," Cloud said, smirking slightly. Guy had a gift for entrances.

Finally someone managed to take the smile from Rufus' face. "What are you doing in here? How did you get past the security?"

Vincent stared for a few moments before replying. "I have my methods."

"Be that as it may, you are not authorized to..."

"He is now," Cloud cut in. "I grant him authorization."

Rufus hesitated as he looked to the General, then just seemed to shrug it off. "Fine."

Cloud turned his attention to the new arrival. "Now Vincent. I believe you were going to explain something to me before I passed out?"

He nodded. "Yes. Ron..."

"Are you Vincent Valentine?"

He turned to the girl who had cut him off. So far she had been pretty quiet, so now all attention was on Bonnie. She was looking at him with an expression of mild interest. Vincent answered her question with a simple nod.

"You don't look sixty."

He stared silently.

She waited for a reply, then decided to speak again with a slightly smug smile. "You know, I broke your 30 year marksmanship record?"

Again he stared, and it seemed like he was going to leave her unacknowledged again, until he nodded. "Not bad..."

Bonnie's smile widened a little until he continued. "Though I did set that record 30 years ago... I'm considerably better now."

Her smile fell.

"Still... Not bad at all..."

Cloud couldn't help but agree. He knew of Vincent's marksmanship record. It wasn't just a Turks record, but a Shinra Inc record. Meaning in thirty years of troops, soldiers and Turks, not one person had bested it. Until this girl. This Bonnie must've been something special... Too bad the Turks got their hooks into her.

"Now as I was saying, Cloud. I think I know what has happened to Ron."

"What's wrong with him?" Kim asked, sadly.

"And what exactly is he?" Cloud added.

Vincent looked to the floor, and started to explain. "Ron is not an ordinary human. He is one of Hojo's experiments. One of his attempts to improve upon the Jenova Project."

Cloud's eyes went wide. "No!"

XXXXX

Again Cloud aggravated his injuries by sitting up and glaring angrily at Vincent. "He's a Jenova Child?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Vincent stared back, unfazed by the general's anger. "He required guidance. Someone to help him resist the darkness within him. You were the person to provide that guidance." His eyes narrowed. "But I knew you wouldn't give him even the smallest chance if you knew what he was."

"I..." He hesitated, then lowered his eyes as he considered that. Vincent was right. If he had even the smallest suspicion that Ron was connected to Sephiroth, he probably would have kept a close eye on him, and treated him like a some kind of monster. Only with time had he realized Ron was a truly good person. Someone he would have been happy to call friend.

He nodded slowly and lay back down. "Okay. Fine. Now care to explain exactly what make's Ron different. He was stronger than Sephiroth. Much stronger."

"You have no idea," Vincent said. "But I should probably start from the beginning. When Sephiroth was still just a boy being raised by the Shinra, he was already demonstrating abilities far beyond any human. Professor Hojo decided to improve upon the Jenova project that had created him.

Cloud saw his friend's expression darken when mentioning that Professor. Hojo had been a unethical Shinra scientist, who had done a great deal of evil. Vincent and the people he loved were victims of much of that evil.

"So he took much of Doctor Lucrecia Crescent's research data; the research that had used to make me what I am..." He looked to his golden cybernetic hand. "And enhanced it further with data from the Jenova Project. The resulting material was then implanted into one of Hojo's assistants. She gave birth nine months later."

Kim looked shocked as she stared. "You mean... That baby was Ron?"

Vincent shook his head. "No. That baby was Cloud."

This time everyone shot up, Bonnie and Cloud again groaning. "WHAT?!"

"Upon your birth Cloud, you were instantly dismissed as a failed experiment. Sephiroth had been born with superior strength and intelligence. Genetically he was perfect. You were just a normal baby. And Hojo being who he was decided to terminate the project..."

Kim gasped. "Terminate? A baby?"

Vincent scowled, but didn't elaborate. "Your mother wouldn't have it. With the help of one of one of Hojo's other assistants, she stole you away, and disappeared. She was smart, and went to a Shinra controlled town. Hiding you where she knew they wouldn't think to look. In plain sight."

Cloud was saddened by this. "Nibelheim... I always wondered why she hardly ever left the house..."

"It seems your true potential and power came with time, Cloud."

"Okay if the General is a Jenova child too, then where does Ron fit in?" Kim asked.

"Hojo didn't give up on his experiments. A number of years later he attempted it again with another assistant. Ron's Mother. The woman who had helped your mother escape. The experiment was almost identical to the one that created you, Cloud."

Cloud frowned. "Almost?"

"Only one difference... While the enhanced material used to create you was used to fertilize your mother's own ova... Ron was created through fertilizing a preserved ova of the last surviving full blooded ancient."

"Last survivor..." Cloud whispered, before looking shocked. "Ifalna! You're talking about Aeris' mother?!"

"Yes, Hojo was always thorough when collecting samples from his... subjects."

Cloud's eyes were wide. "My God... Ron... is Aeris' biological brother?"

"The same material used to create you, was used to create Ron... So technically Cloud, he's your brother too."

Cloud started to pale, and his breathing got deeper. "Wh...why didn't you tell me?"

"I've only recently put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. As you may know, the young girl named Shelke received many of Lucrecia Crescent's memories, and knowledge of much of her research. Bit by bit she has been remembering more and relaying the data for me to research. I started in earnest last year when I tracked Ron down, after sensing a great power in the mountains west of Midgar."

"Mountains?" Kim asked. "You mean when we fought that Materia Monster?"

Vincent nodded. "It seems I arrived after the worst of it. You were just leaving with a child by the time I got there. Its still unclear to me what happened there. But I believe it has something to do with the awakening of Ron's darkness."

Kim lowered her eyes and thought. "Come to think of it, I don't know what happened either. I passed out, and when I woke up the thing was gone, and Ron was face down in Lifestream. I always figured the creature had gotten bored of us and left."

Cloud had heard this story during one of his many conversations with Kim. They had gotten into the habit of sharing battle stories together. "Okay, I think you're getting ahead of yourself, Vincent. What is this you keep saying out Ron's darkness? If what you say is true, then he is some kind of Cetra, enhanced with Jenova cells?"

"Yes."

"So what does that make him?" Kim asked.

"The theory... involves Dark Lifestream."

Cloud seemed confused. "Dark... Lifestream?"

"Mako, or lifestream is the lifeblood of the planet. When a life form is born, so too is a fresh and untainted soul. At the end of the life form's cycle, that soul is enriched by its experiences and returned to the lifestream of the planet, where all souls intermingle."

Kim nodded. "Yeah, these days they teach that stuff at school. Its why using mako as a power source is illegal now."

"Indeed," Vincent agreed. "But in every soul there is darkness. And when a soul returns to the planet, so too does that darkness. All the evil, all the hate and negative emotion of every one and everything that has ever lived... Exists within the planet. It gathers and coalesces."

Cloud's blood ran cold, and he was hoping that Vincent wasn't saying what he thought. "What does this have to do with Ron?"

"The Cetra, or the Ancients... They were connected to the planet. Communicated with it and lived in harmony with it. But they... They were in tune with the light. Ron is connected to the darkness. All of Gaia's evil and..."

"That's a lie!" Kim snapped, jumping to her feet and glaring at Vincent. "Ron is NOT evil! He's the best friend I ever had! The kindest, gentlest most... most..."

"Pure soul?" Vincent asked.

"Yes! He's pure!"

"You're right Kim Possible. Ron is pure. Purer than most. Or at least he was."

This was getting to be a bit much for Cloud. "You're not making any sense, Vincent. First you're saying he's tied to all the darkness and evil that's ever existed on the planet. And now you're saying he was pure."

"He was holding it back," he explained.

Everyone paused. "What?" Cloud asked.

"All his life he must have suffered with it. And all his life he held it back. Resisted all of his dark and selfish influences. Anything that involved any kind of power. He remained pure through nothing more than his strength of will."

Kim lowered her eyes sadly. "Ron was suffering... I can't believe I never knew."

"If he had been holding back the darkness, then what happened?" Cloud asked, before looking scared. "It wasn't me was it? Was I too hard on him?!"

Vincent shook his head. "No. But something definitely pushed him over the edge."

Kim shot Bonnie a hateful glare, and the girl averted her eyes looking almost guilty.

"No Miss Possible, she is not responsible. I'm under the impression that she had bullied Ron for many years. Its doubtful that she could get to him enough to break his defenses."

Kim frowned. "So the fact Ron goes all nutso just after being assaulted by Miss Turk over there was just a coincidence?!"

Vincent looked to Bonnie. "She may indeed have been the straw that broke the Chocobo's back... But that's all she was. A straw. Something far more substantial wore him down before that."

"And what would that be?" Kim asked, folding her arms.

"I believe the answer lies with the materia monster you fought."

"But I already told you! I don't know what happened! Ron's gone, and you showed up after the whole thing was over. How is that supposed to help us if no one knows what happened?"

"You're forgetting someone," Vincent said simply.

Kim paused the a look of clarity shone in her emerald eyes. "The girl... Rinoa."

"Its possible she knows something," Vincent said.

Cloud nodded. "Any additional knowledge on what happened could be crucial." He turned to his protege. "Kim. Pay this girl visit and find out what she knows. If she has any idea what happened to Ron, it may help us in reversing it."

"Yes Sir," she said, standing up and saluting.

Rufus stood too, and unfolded a wheelchair which was against the back wall. He and Bonnie had been completely quiet during Vincent's story.

"Well," the President said cheerfully. "Maybe we should get you to a private room, Bonnie."

She just nodded as the Doctor helped her into the chair. "Yes sir. Thank you."

He dismissed the Doctor in favor of pushing his newest Turk out the door himself. "Until later, my friends."

Kim left through the same door but turned in the opposite direction towards the elevators.

"I don't trust that President of yours," Vincent murmured.

"Not many people do."

XXXXX

Bonnie quite liked her boss. He was always so friendly to her, and it made her want to do her job well. Not to mention that fact that he was way cute. But she was a professional, and would never make advances on him.

She frowned sadly as he pushed her down the hall. "I'm sorry, sir."

He looked down at the top of her head as he pushed her. "For what?"

"I failed in my mission. I supposed to bring Stoppable in, and..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Bonnie. Granted you are usually expected to complete your missions without fail, but I'm not an unreasonable man. You could not be expected to defeat someone stronger than Sephiroth. But if it means that much to you, I forgive you your failure."

She smiled a little. "Thank you, sir."

He nodded. "Now. I think we need to do something about this Stoppable character."

She turned back and looked up at him from where she sat, listening quietly.

"Cloud and his friends are letting their emotions get in the way. Stoppable may have been their friend, but the threat he poses now is undeniable."

Bonnie felt her heartbeat quicken. Part of her didn't like where this was going. "What do you mean, sir?"

"He must be terminated."

"I..." She hesitated. She didn't like questioning her boss. The Turks frowned upon it. "I didn't think you could make a decision like that, without the approval of Shinra's board of Directors."

"I may not have access to all of Shinra's military might, no. But that's what I have the Turks for. You answer directly to me."

She faced forward again and lowered he eyes. "Oh... Okay sir."

"You are the best marksman Shinra have had in over thirty years Bonnie. And I have some special equipment prepared just for you. I want you to follow the General's young protege until she leads you to your target. Your new weapon should prove more than adequate."

"A...are you sure about this, sir?" she asked.

He paused. She was worried he may be angry at her questioning him, but his reply was gentle. "Positive. And its not just because of the threat he poses, Bonnie." She looked back up into his sapphire eyes when he gently clasped her shoulder. "Nobody hurts my Turks. Nobody."

She nodded, feeling her loyalty to the man strengthen. "I understand, sir. Consider it done."

Rufus smiled. "Good girl."

XXXXX

To be Continued...

Got the entire story planned out now, all the way up to the last chapter. Should be easier to get the chapters done now. Next chapter, Kim finally learns the truth about the materia monster from the beginning of our little adventure. Also visits Ron's mother and learns more about him, and his Lotus Blade. Please review, and I'll have the next chapter done asap.

-Jawelik


	13. Chapter 12

Rebirth: Part 12

by Jawelik

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Rinoa's parents were very happy to have a visit from the girl who had rescued their daughter. She didn't need to explain to them why she was there, or flash her fancy new Shinra ID badge. The parents didn't even question Kim when she said she wanted to talk to their 9 year old girl. Just sent her up to the child's bedroom.

Kim climbed the stairs to the family's quaint little house, and knocked on Rinoa's door. There was no answer, but Kim entered anyway, remembering that the girl had been very quiet. She found the girl sitting on well made bed, in the middle of a very tidy bedroom. She was reading a book, that was a lot thicker than one you'd expect someone her age to be reading. A quick look around her room, showed bookshelves everywhere, several on the walls, and even more sitting on the floor. All of them were packed with thick books. Seems Rinoa was an avid reader.

"Hi Rinoa. Do you remember me?"

The girl looked up from her book and to her guest. She had grown a few inches since Kim had last seen her. She smiled ever so briefly, until Kim closed the door behind her. Then she pouted and seemed reluctant to talk, but the question that was bugging her needed to come out.

Her voice was soft timid and barely audible. "Where's Ron?"

With a sigh, Kim knelt down in front of Rinoa and looked sadly into her big brown eyes. "Sweetie... Ron's in trouble, and..."

"Trouble?" Rinoa gasped, dropping her book. "What's wrong?! What happened to him?!"

"I..." Kim hesitated. "I'm not sure. But I think you can help me figure it out."

She slanted her head curiously. Kim couldn't help but admit that the little kid was just adorable. "How?"

"Well, you remember a year ago? When me and Ron saved you from..."

"You didn't save me!" she snapped, shocking Kim with her suddenly raised voice. "Ron saved me! And you took all the credit!"

Kim felt her face reddening. That was quite a bold accusation. But she managed to calm herself before losing her temper. "Sweetie... I don't have any idea what happened. I was unconscious, and..."

"Exactly! How could you possibly save me if you were knocked out?! Glory hog! And stop calling me sweetie!"

Kim had a harder time keeping her temper in check this time. She knew the kid had a crush on Ron, but why was she acting like such a little ingrate? She clenched her teeth, and felt the vein in her forehead close to bursting, before she forced out her next question.

"Listen, sweet... uh... Rinoa. Ron's in trouble because of something that happened that day. And I'm hoping that knowing what happened will help me help him. Did you see anything?"

The girl hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. I saw everything."

Kim smiled, hopefully. "Really? Could you tell me, please? And try not to leave out any details."

She regarded Kim with a slightly hostile pout, before nodding. "Okay. If it will help Ron... I'd gone to play in my favorite spot in the mountains. That's where I found the weird lake that hadn't been there before. I think it was mako, or at least that's what my encyclopedias said..."

Kim smiled softly. This was a bright little girl. Articulate too.

"Well I was really curious. I'd never seen mako before, so I went in for a closer look. Then the big scary crystal monster came out. I nearly drowned in the wave of mako it made. It growled at me so I started running, then it started throwing rocks as big as daddy's car! But I went into one of the caves I like to play in and hid. He couldn't get me in there."

Kim nodded. "Then what happened?"

"Well I was stuck in there. I tried to sneak away a few times, but he always came out of the mako to get me, so I had to keep going back to the cave. I don't know how long I was in there, but I spent most of my time curled up against the back wall crying. I was really scared."

Kim's expression softened. This kid was painting quite a vivid picture with her story, so much so that Kim felt her heart break for her just thinking about the poor crying and frightened little girl in the dark scary cave.

"And eventually me and Ron showed up, right?"

Rinoa nodded. "Uh huh. At first I heard the sounds of the monster roaring. He sounded really mad!"

Kim nodded at the memory. "Oh yeah."

"Then there was the sounds of fighting, and after a really bright light shone into my cave and almost blinded me it all went quiet."

Kim knew what the bright light was. It was the explosive attack that had knocked her unconscious. This is where the story got interesting.

"I was still really scared, but I decided to go and see what was going on."

Kim was surprised. "You were frightened, there were loud noises and explosions, and you still stuck your head out of that cave? That's pretty brave."

The girl gave a little smile. "Mommy always said I was too curious for my own good."

"So what did you see?" Kim asked, really anxious to know by now. This kid told one heck of a good story. Must've come with all the reading the did.

"Well you were sprawled out on your face looking totally useless..."

Kim frowned at the the rather mean description.

"... And Ron was standing up and walking towards the monster." Rinoa got a dreamy look on her face. "I could tell that he was hurt by the way he was limping, but he was so brave. He was putting himself between you and the monster, and I knew he was protecting you. And the look he had on his face! He wasn't scared, not even a little bit!"

Kim felt herself getting misty eyed. The picture in her mind of her best friend was so clear now. Putting himself in harms way, so determined to protect her that fear didn't even cross his mind. Never had she pictured such a courageous sight, and never did she think she'd think of Ron that way.

Then Rinoa's face got serious, cutting of Kim's reverie. "And that... is when things got REALLY scary!"

--Flashback--

She watched from the cave as the blonde haired boy wearing the black shirt, boots and tan cargo pants slowly struggled to his feet. And rather than running away from the gargantuan monster that was slowly approaching him, he approached it. Made sure he was between the crystal creature and the unconscious red head. Rinoa knew she should have been more scared, but she found herself fascinated by the boy's bravery. This was the kind of thing she'd only read about heroes doing in her books.

The boy, in obvious pain, continued to limp forward, then he seemed to falter. Was about ready to pass out. But then something strange happened. He closed his eyes, and looked to the ground in some kind of trance. His body, at first hunched over in pain, straightened, and Rinoa could almost hear his bones crack as they moved back into proper alignment. Then he smiled. The most twisted, evil and sinister smile the eight year old girl had ever seen in her short life.

From the nearby mako lake that the monster was submerged in from the waist down, a glowing cloud started to rise and approach the boy. His eyes still closed, still standing straight as a trained soldier, still smiling. The glowing white and green mako cloud gathered around him, darkened to black smoke riddled with thousands of dark blue sparks. That swirled around him in an admittedly attractive display of light. Then like water being sucked down a drain, the dark mako was drawn into the boy's body.

He stretched out as if the mako had awoken him from a long and restful slumber, his hand holding a dimly glowing red katana. Then he snickered in a deep voice which was among the scariest things Rinoa had ever heard. His voice though human, had a kind of... unnatural quality to it. It was barely noticeable, but there was something off about it. Opening his eyes, revealed that they had changed from the brown they had been moments ago, to a softly glowing blue. Then finally he spoke.

"Finally... After all this time... I'm allowed to come out and play." The Materia Monster now stood near the edge of the lake looking down at the little human with a deep growl. The blonde looked back with a supremely confident look shining in his new mako eyes. "So, you're going to be my first playmate, huh?" He held up his sword. "Then show me what you've got, big boy."

Actually seeming insulted by the human's confidence, the monster roared with the deafening sound of screeching metal. It lifted its house-sized hand, and bought its palm down hard on its victim...

Rinoa couldn't believe the result.

The boy simply raised his arm, and stopped the blow one handed. Rinoa would've expected such a big hand crushing someone so small to at least push him into the ground like a nail. But it didn't even do that. He stopped this god-like creatures attack with a single hand and hadn't even flinched. Was still smiling even.

Again he gave off a low sinister snicker, before shooting his gaze in the direction of the materia monster's startled red and green materia eyes. "Okay. MY TURN!!"

A sudden line of red light flashed into existence across the monster's wrist, as the katana was swung too fast for the eye to follow. There was a loud crack of shattering diamonds, and an roar of agony, as the colossal monster's hand came apart from his body. It lifted its arm, and grabbed its wrist, minus the amputated appendage, as it gushed with glowing orange blood. The boy meanwhile tossed the hand he had removed into the mako lake, with a flick of his wrist.

"Oh come on, beastie!" he laughed. "Surely you can do better than that! I thought Wade said you were indestructible."

Still holding its wrist, it looked down at the dangerous little speck and made its two eyes (green and red orbs respectively) glow brightly, before unleashing two laser beams at him. The boy raised his sword, with a slightly bored smile gracing his face, and the green and red beams were reflected right back into the monster's chest. Again an agonized roar rocked the landscape. The beams superheated its crystal chest, causing to glow like rocks in a live volcano.

The boy lowered into a fighting stance, extending his sword behind him. Then he vanished. The monster roared louder than ever as the boy flew straight through his weakened chest like a bullet, sending chunks of flesh, materia crystal and a flood of glowing orange blood bursting out of its back.

The boy floated by the exit wound, and looked cruelly at the dying creature, as it let out another anguished roar before sinking into its lake. The last thing Rinoa saw of the monster was its outstretched hand as it disappeared into the depths of the planet. Then she looked up to the scary boy, who was shaking his head in disappointment, from where he still levitated.

"Well... That wasn't much fun... Who am I going to play with now?" Ever so slowly, as if he'd know she was there all along, he turned and looked right at Rinoa, a look of malevolence glowing in his eyes. "You'll do."

She hugged the edge of the cave opening and her hole body went rigid, as she watched him glide towards her. The monster was gone, only to be replaced by an even scarier one that she couldn't hide from in her cave. Tears started running down her face and she started to cry.

"I... I want Mommy... and Daddy..."

The boy suddenly hesitated with a shocked look in his eyes, then he grabbed his head in both hands. Seeming to be struggling with himself, he growled in a different, less evil voice. "No! Leave her alone!"

Then the evil voice came back. "You can't send me back! Not after just letting me out! I wont let you!"

His eyes shot open and looked right at Rinoa. But they were eyes filled with fear this time. "And I won't let you hurt her! I... I WON'T!!"

His arms outstretched, he looked to the sky and a bright beam of blue energy burst out of his chest as he expelled the power from his body, sending bright pillar of light into the heavens. Then he faltered, passed out and started falling a good fifty feet, before hitting the mako lake head first. She watched as his body resurfaced, floating face down.

It was only a few minutes before the red haired girl came to, and started looking around. She was oblivious to what had just happened. Then she stood up and saw the boy in the lake, and screamed, "Ron!" So that was his name.

Rinoa kept watching, still scared, as the girl pulled Ron out of the lake and started crying as she tried to revive him. Rinoa wondered why she was crying over something so scary. Was the girl the same as him? Was she scary too?

It wasn't long before the boy woke up again, and Rinoa stiffened. He got up and the red head put her arm over his shoulder, and they seemed to be talking and joking with one another. Then when they stood up, Ron looked over his friend's shoulder and right at their observer and smiled. He said something, and the girl turned around and smiled too.

Frightened by their approach, Rinoa ran back into the cave, curled up against the back wall hugging her knees, and tried her best not to cry as she heard the pair enter.

"Rinoa?" She heard the girl speak her name, and looked up frightened into her emerald green eyes. "My name's Kim Possible. Your Mommy and Daddy sent me here to bring you home."

She sat still and frozen, not willing to believe this girl. When she was surprised by what her companion said.

"We're the good guys."

Finally she found the courage to look up at Ron again. And she was surprised by what she saw. His eyes seemed completely different now. They still glowed softly blue, but there wasn't a trace of the cold malevolence from before, in his eyes or on his face. To be honest she had never seen a warmer or more reassuring smile in her life. She had no idea why, but all of a sudden she found herself trusting this boy.

She remembered reading once that the eyes were the windows to the soul, and now she saw why. She could actually see his soul. And it was the warmest, purest and most beautiful thing she had ever seen. This was no monster. He was a hero! Her hero.

Slowly she climbed to her feet, and started to run forward. Didn't even notice Kim fall to her knee and open up her arms. She brushed past her, ran up to Ron and latched onto his leg, smiling softly.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so safe.

--End Flashback--

Rinoa shrugged at Kim, who still knelt next to her bed. "And that's pretty much it. You know everything that happened after that."

Kim nodded, feeling shocked and sad. Tears were glistening in her eyes. "Guess I owe Ron a really big apology. I really did take all the credit huh?"

Rinoa pouted angrily and nodded.

With a sigh she looked to the floor. Now that she thought about it, that hadn't been the only time. Ron was always on her missions with her. She probably would have failed most of them if he weren't there. And she always took all the credit. Always. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so guilty.

Sniffing sadly, she looked back up at Rinoa with a warm smile and wiped her tears with back of her hand. "You know Rinoa. You're a pretty good story teller."

This actually bought a soft smile to her face. "Thanks. I want to be a writer when I grow up."

"Well I'll bet you'll be great one, Rinoa."

Her smile widened, and Kim was glad this girl was warming up to her. "I love books. But the kids at school all say I'm weird."

Kim nodded at that. "The kids at my school always said Ron was weird... And they were right, you know?" Again that angry pout appeared on the child's face, but Kim continued. "But weird just means different. And there's nothing wrong with that. You should take weird as a compliment, Rinoa. Because my best friend in the whole world is weird, and I wouldn't want him any other way."

Now the girl smiled again. "You know? You're not as bad as I thought, Miss Possible."

"Call me Kim."

"Okay. Kim."

"Thanks, Rinoa," she said, as she stood up and headed to the door. "You've been a big help."

"What's wrong with Ron?"

Kim paused, and cursed under her breath. She'd hoped she'd managed to distract her from that question. "I'm not sure if I can tell you Rinoa. You probably don't wanna know..."

"Yes I do! Tell me Kim! Please?"

Kim hesitated before speaking. "You remember what he was like when he beat that materia monster?"

Rinoa nodded. "Yeah. He was scary."

"Well... He's scary again, Rinoa. But I think I can get him back to normal now."

"You better!' she said, surprising Kim with her harshness. "Because when I grow up, I'm gonna marry him!"

Kim paused. For some reason none of her usual comments came to mind, when replying to a comment like that. She would expect herself to joke about being a bridesmaid, or helping her pick out a wedding dress. But no jokes came to mind as she exited the child's room. So she said the one thing she could think of saying.

"I'll get him back. I promise."

XXXXX

Bonnie had listened to the whole story from the roof of an old abandoned gas station across the road. She took off her headphones, which was attached to a listening device that resembled a little satellite dish. She wasn't going to need it again in a moment. She had to admit though, that Kim was right. That kid definitely told a good story.

Looking to her side, she picked up the silenced rifle she had bought along with her, and cocked it. It wasn't a very good piece of equipment, standard Shinra issue, but it was the best she could do on short notice. It was nothing compared to some of the custom jobs she'd put together in her day, but it would be adequate. This wasn't going to be a hard shot, she didn't even bother attaching a scope.

Bonnie had always had a thing for guns, and an uncanny talent for using them. Something she had inherited from her late father, who was one of the Shinra army's top marksmen back in the day. Up until the man had died in the line of duty when she was ten, she had been quite a Daddy's girl. Though he would never allow his precious little girl to use a live firearm, she was always with him when he practiced at the firing range, or modifying guns in his workshop. Always watching and learning. After he died, she inherited all his guns and his workshop, and all her years of watching had paid off. It wasn't long at all before she surpassed all of her father's considerable skills.

It wasn't just her skills though that attracted the Turks, and got her an invitation to their elite training program. It was her personality profile. She had a ruthless streak, which was a prerequisite of the job. She also lacked the classic view of right and wrong most people had. Not to say that she was without conscience, but she was not about to let it rule her. With so many differing views of right and wrong in the world, Bonnie never found any need to follow any of them. So ever since becoming one of the Turks, she had learned to embrace their way of life. Right and wrong didn't matter to them. Only serving the President and following orders. Doing their job was the most important thing.

No more than ten people met the prerequisites for the Turks training. And Bonnie was not only the only trainee to pass, but she passed with some of the highest scores in Turk's history. She was their prodigy.

Shaking off thoughts of her life, she noticed Kim exiting the house, and aimed her rifle at her. This was definitely a far cry from the state of the art weapons she was used too, but it was such an easy shot that it didn't matter. She could make this shot with this gun at 20 times the distance. She focused, aimed between Kim's shoulder blades when her back was to her, and squeezed the trigger.

Kim didn't even notice at the tracer bullet hit the back of her armor. It was another development using Shinra's nanotechnology, able to change it consistency and appearance. It hit her soft as putty, didn't make a sound, then darkened to black so it wouldn't be seen on the back of her uniform.

Bonnie pulled a small device from her belt and checked it. This new tracer would eliminate any need for listening devices or headphones. And she saw the opportunity to test it, when Kim pulled out her cell phone. Bonnie pressed a button on her hand held, and linked to the phone to listen in. The voices were clear as day, she liked these toys Shinra let her play with.

"General, its me," Kim said.

"Report."

"Ron, it..." Bonnie her her sniff sadly, then her voice cracked. "It's my fault sir! What happened to Ron is all my fault!"

Cloud sounded worried next. "What do you mean Kim? Are you okay?"

"That materia monster had me knocked out, and Ron wanted to protect me," she said. Bonnie watched as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "That's why he gave into the darkness. He did it to protect me. Its all my fault!"

"Kim, get a hold of yourself!" Cloud snapped. Bonnie saw Kim stiffen. "It may be true that he did it to protect you, but that doesn't make it your fault." He sighed. "Think about it Kim. On a certain level I think he always new he had that power, but was afraid to use it. If the roles were reversed and it was your power, and it was the only thing that could save him. Would you have hesitated?"

Kim paused. "No..."

"Neither would I in his position. And he came back from that too. We'll get him back again, I know we will."

She nodded at that. "Yes sir. Thanks."

"No big," he said, surprising Bonnie by using Kim's phrase. "When are you coming back?"

She sniffed again, but seemed to be composing herself. "I think it would be a good idea to see Ron's mother while I'm in town. She was Hojo's assistant, so she might know even more about the experiment that made Ron."

"Good call, Kim."

"Then I might pay my folks a quick visit. They'll be majorly tweaked if they found out I was in town, and didn't stop in to say hi."

Cloud chuckled. "Well we can't have tweaked parents, can we? Go right ahead Kim, and don't feel rushed to leave them. Remember, all of Shinra Inc is backing you up, you don't have to do it all yourself."

"Thank you, sir. See you soon."

"Later, Kim."

Bonnie turned of her spy device. It had worked perfectly, and had been educational too. She had read the personality profile on Cloud a number of times, and never expected him to be so... friendly. He spoke with Kim like he would a close friend or a little sister more than a subordinate.

Shaking off the thought, she attached her spy device to her belt, then reached into her inside coat pocket for he cell phone. She hit the second number on speed dial, spoke a single message to the person who picked up before hanging up.

"I'm done here and ready for pickup."

XXXXX

Jumping of the roof of the abandoned single story gas station, she approached the road and didn't have to wait more than a minute before a sleek black sedan with tinted windows pulled up. This car had been designed especially for the Turks, and Bonnie imagined people would soon know there were Turks about if they saw this model. It was stylish, fast, handled beautifully and was armored well enough to take a rocket launcher blast with little more than a dent.

She opened the back door and slipped in to find her colleague, and friend Elena waiting for her. Reno was driving and Rude was in the passenger seat beside him.

"How'd it go?" Elena asked.

"Fine," she mumbled, tossing her rifle over the back of the seat. "This rifle is junk though."

Rude glanced back at her. "You missed?"

Bonnie frowned. "Please! At that range I could have hit her with a slingshot."

"Well, how'd the new tracer bullet work?" Reno asked.

"Now that, I have to admit, was cool," she replied smiling now. "I even used it to hack her cell phone and listen into her conversation. Can't wait to try some of the other features."

"Sci-Tech will be glad to hear that," Elena said. Sci-tech was what people had started calling Shinra's Science and Technology Division.

"Well I love the toys they've made for me so far," Bonnie admitted.

"Then you're in for a treat," Elena said, picking up a case from the floor beside her. "Those custom jobs you ordered are finished."

The brunette smiled brightly. "Already? Finally, no more junk guns!" She took the case, which opened with a hiss, and she whistled appreciatively at the gleaming pair of pistols inside. They were both made silvery reinforced alloy, and had a panel in each side that glowed green. She pulled one out and cocked it, then turned it over in her hand, carefully scrutinizing its design and alignment. She had an eye for things like that, she could often tell if a weapon was imprecise just by looking at it. These looked good though.

"Made to my specifications?" she asked.

"We made certain," Rude confirmed.

"Yeah," Reno cut in. "We know how those geeks at Sci-tech think they're better than everyone else. Probably would've chucked your designs away and started from scratch without even looking at them, if not for us."

"Even so, a few of those geeks were impressed with your schematics," Elena said, with a smile.

Bonnie smiled back. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. We've had some of the top scientists and engineers working for Shinra for decades, and not one even considered using magnetic materia to power a mini rail gun. They said the idea was revolutionary."

She smiled smugly. "Yeah, well I know my guns. And how to think outside the square."

"That's one of the reasons we hired you," Reno said.

"So, how's the functionality? The idea was one thing, but I needed Sci-Tech to make it work."

"We put our two top scientists on it. They fight a lot, but still get things done faster than anyone else. And to answer your question, those are probably two of the finest handguns ever built. At the highest setting , the bullets can reach speeds close to the speed of light. And speaking of bullets..."

She drew Bonnie's attention to the clips in her gun case. "Each gun can take three clips with different ammo. The dial at the back of the gun switches between them."

Bonnie looked at the back of her gun and saw the dial. There was an electronic readout just below it, with three numbers. Each number measured the number of bullets remaining in each clip. Just as she'd designed.

"What kind of bullets are we talking here?"

"Oh, everything you can think of. Super armor piercers, explosive rounds, also some non lethal ones like those tracers you liked so much and smokescreens."

She picked up a few of the numerous variety of clips, which were flat so she could load three into one pistol. She could switch between the different bullets with a flick of her thumb, so it made the weapons very versatile. She took off her blue coat, then took the harness Elena picked off the floor. She slipped it on, so the two attached holsters lay below each of her breasts, then put her coat back on. The harness was designed especially for her body and measurements, so it was extremely comfortable, and allowed for full range of movement.

She took the guns, loaded them with a selection of six clips, then slipped them into her holsters, where they were completely hidden from sight.

"I can't wait to get to the practice range with these babies. Its one of the reasons I love being a Turk. All the fun toys."

"Then, you're gonna love this," Elena snickered. She opened a hidden compartment on the back of rude's seat, and when its contents were revealed Bonnie's eyes lit up.

"Oooh, me likey!"

Elena pulled out the sleek silver scoped rifle and handed it to Bonnie. Like her handguns, it had a panel that had a green glow of magnetic materia. "The President found out about your little handguns and had Sci-Tech whip up a little something extra for you. This is quite possibly the most powerful sniper rifle ever made."

"I don't care how much power that Stoppable guy is packing, that thing will pop his head like a grape," Reno enthused.

Bonnie felt herself stiffen a little at that comment, but ignored the feeling.

"Especially with these," Elena added handing her a clear plastic case with six large gauge sniper rifle bullets. Bonnie took the case and examined them.

"Materia tipped?" she asked. "Nice."

"You better believe it," Reno said. "Those things in that rifle could blast through a mountain and still keep going for miles."

Bonnie nodded, then put down her new rifle and slipped the bullets into her pocket. She felt the strange need to change the subject, so she pulled her spy device from her belt and activated it. "Okay, back to work. According to this, Kim just got to Mrs Stoppable's house."

"Talking to his mother too huh?" Elena asked. "Smart move."

Bonnie shrugged. "She has her moments. She's not my rival for nothing, you know."

Reno pulled over the car, and put his feet up on the dash. "Rival? Please! That goodie goodie wouldn't have lasted two minutes in the Turks. You on the other hand Bonnie would have made SOLDIER First Class like that." He snapped his fingers. "You're the true elite, Bonnie. Kimmie there is just another grunt."

Bonnie smiled. "You know Reno, most of the time you're a real pain in the butt. But sometimes you can be really sweet."

Reno shrugged. "Hey we might not always get along, but we're Turks. We stick together."

Bonnie, Elena and even Rude nodded at that.

Bonnie's smile widened. That was one of the other things she loved about being a Turk. The loyalty. Not just to the President but each other. Now that she thought about it she'd never had that before. Back in high school, with the whole food chain thing, she was on top and had her posse. But she was always on guard so one of her so called friends didn't stab her in the back. There had never been loyalty there. There was now though, and Bonnie was going to make sure she deserved it.

They were the Turks. Her friends... Her Family.

XXXXX

Completely unaware of the nanotech listening device on her back, Kim entered the Stoppable house. She, like Ron, never needed to knock when entering the other's home. The Possible's all considered Ron family, and Mrs Stoppable always felt the same about Kim. The tall bespectacled blonde woman met Kim when she entered, and pulled her into a warm hug. Kim was a little surprised when the older woman started crying.

"Somehow I get the feeling you already know something is wrong with Ron?" Kim mused.

Still hugging the young red head, Mrs Stoppable nodded. "He... he's been taken by the darkness, hasn't he?"

Kim pulled out of the hug, and nodded solemnly.

The blonde woman looked her in the eyes. "How much do you know?"

"A bit," Kim admitted, explaining briefly what she had learned so far about the Jenova Project and dark lifestream.

Mrs Stoppable paused. "How have you learned so much?"

"A man named Vincent Valentine filled us in."

"The Turk?" she asked surprised.

"You know him?"

She nodded. "A long time ago. I don't know what Lucrecia was thinking choosing that monster Hojo over him. Vincent was a good man."

"You knew Doctor Crescent too?"

"Oh yes, Lucrecia, Raine and I were all Hojo's assistants. We were like sisters."

Kim raised a curious eyebrow. "Who's Raine?"

Mrs Stoppable smiled warmly. "Raine Strife. Cloud's Mother."

"Oh!" Kim said surprised. "I didn't know. The General never talks about her. I get the feeling a painful subject for him."

"I can imagine. Poor child. Now that the truth is out about Ron though, you tell that General of yours to come and visit me."

"Why?" Kim asked, tilting her head curiously.

"I told you Kim, Raine and I were like sisters. After I helped her escape with her baby she made me Cloud's God Mother."

"What?!" she gasped. "Really?!"

"Oh yes. Used to change his diapers and everything."

Kim couldn't keep from giggling at the mental picture of her almighty General as a laughing baby boy.

"After they escaped of course I never saw them again," she admitted, sadly. "Raine and I agreed it was safer if I didn't know where she was. Less chance of her being found that way."

"So what about Ron? That's kinda what I'm here to ask about anyway. Can you tell me anything that will help me bring him back?"

The older woman hesitated. "I don't know, Kim. Ron's in born abilities are mostly a mystery. It was all theoretical, and after Hojo decided he was another failed experiment, no real research was put into it."

"Is there anything you can tell me?"

"The best I can do is help you understand him a little better, Kim," she said, sadly. "You see after learning that Hojo was going to try experimenting with the Jenova project again, I volunteered to carry the child. After what happened to Raine, I figured it would put me in a good position to save the baby if he was another failure."

Kim smiled. "That was very brave of you."

"And quite possibly the best decision of my life, because it gave me Ron."

Kim nodded at that.

"Anyway, as you know Ron is half Ancient. Hojo as always was over confident that this experiment would work this time, so he prepared by making Ron a weapon."

"The... Lotus Blade?" Kim asked.

Ron's mother nodded.

"I always thought that was an old hand me down."

She chuckled. "Quite the contrary, Kim. That sword is one of the most extraordinary weapons on the planet."

"How so?"

"Well seeing as Ron was half Ancient, Hojo decided to take advantage of that. You see, the Cetra's ancient civilization is still a great mystery, because their texts and hieroglyphics are difficult to translate. But one of the ancient documents that Shinra managed to decipher was a weapon schematic."

"I'm guessing a sword," Kim cut in.

"Precisely," she replied. "The Cetra were apparently a peaceful people, but they still had their warriors. Very powerful warriors who drew upon the power of the planet, using their unique weapons to channel lifestream. Hojo had one of those weapons made for Ron before he was born. The metal was infused with mako. I decided to take it with me when I escaped with Ron."

Kim paused and thought on this. "So if the theories on Ron are correct... He can use the Lotus Blade to focus the dark lifestream he's connected to?"

She nodded. "Exactly. You always were a bright girl, Kim."

"Mrs Stoppable... Why didn't you ever tell Ron what he was? Maybe you could have prepared him for this?"

She lowered her eyes and started to look guilty. "I... I'm ashamed to say it, Kim. But I was scared. Scared of what that darkness could do to my precious baby... So I ignored it."

Kim reigned in the anger she started feeling. This woman had made a mistake, but its one Kim could understand.

"I knew the danger was there, but just buried my head in the sand. He was always such a kind gentle and happy child, I fooled myself into believing he had been born normal, despite all the experimentation..." She sighed after that. "But deep down I knew better. He tried to hide it, but I knew about the nightmares he always had. I knew it was the darkness weighing down upon him in his sleep. I think that's why he was always so happy. His waking life must have been a hundred times better than the world of his nightmares."

She placed her face in her hand, and tears started to run down her face. "Oh my poor baby. I've been a truly horrible mother."

Kim stepped up and put her arms around the woman. "That's not true. You just wanted your son to be safe and happy. You loved him more than anything. No one can expect more from a mother than that."

Mrs Stoppable placed her face on the girl's shoulder and cried a little, before wiping her eyes and smiling softly at her. "Thank you Kim. I needed that."

"No big," she whispered. "But I better get going. I still need to help Ron."

She nodded. "Do you know what you're going to do?"

"Ron gave into the darkness once before, to save me. He pushed it back down then, and I think he can do it again. I just have to appeal to his sense of humanity."

"I hope you're right Kim," she said, as they walked together to the front door. "If anyone can get through to him though, its you."

"I'll get him back, Mrs Stoppable."

She smiled and nodded. "Oh and don't forget to tell that God Son of my to drop by. I'll make him a home cooked meal."

Kim giggled at that. "I'm sure he'd like th..." She trailed off when she opened the front door, and found someone waiting for them in the front yard. Someone levitating a few feet off the ground, with his arms folded over his chest.

"Hey Kim," Ron said darkly, before turning to her companion and smiling condescendingly. "Mommy."

XXXXX

Mrs Stoppable's first instinct was to run to hug her son. "Ronnie!"

But Kim put her arm out and blocked her, as he she glared angrily at Ron, who slowly glided down onto the ground. Given a chance to look into those sinister glowing mako eyes, his mother started to frown. "You're not my Ronnie."

He sneered in reply. "And you're not my mother! Nothing more than an incubator to me."

His mother tensed as if she had just been stabbed in the heart, but Kim was quick to grab the woman's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't listen to him! He's not Ron! So you shouldn't let anything he says hurt you."

She seemed to calm after hearing that. "You're right Kim," she said, glaring at the boy who was no longer Ron. "Give me back my son, you... you monster!"

Still with that condescending smile, he chuckled evilly. "After all these years of imprisonment, what makes you think I'd ever go back to being that weakling?"

"My Ronnie is no weakling!" the older woman snapped. "You said it yourself, you've been imprisoned for a long time! And my boy was the one who kept you locked up! At the very least that makes him stronger than you!"

His smile vanishing and giving way to a hateful scowl showed how little he liked that comment. Ever so slowly he drew the Lotus Blade from his back, and stepped towards the his mother with murder in his eyes. In the blink of an eye Kim's daggers vanished from the clips on her waist and appeared in her hands. The she stood in a defensive stance in front of her best friend's mother.

"Stay back!"

He stopped his approach, then surprisingly just returned his weapon to the sheath on his back without argument. "Fine."

Kim's eyes narrowed. "Where have you been? I was expecting to hear about a little havoc before running into you again."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Well havoc was definitely the plan. To celebrate my freedom, I decided to go out and find some fun. Maybe a playmate or two." He sighed in disappointment. "Sadly though, there wasn't a single person worth my time. Not a one was even worth killing."

Kim felt relief flood through her, but managed to hold back her smile. "You haven't killed anyone yet?"

"No... Not for lack of trying though. I was quite looking forward to watching Bonbon die screaming. You really shouldn't have stopped me you know? It would have been a favor to the world."

Her urge to smile vanished. Her friend had not yet killed anyone, but he was still being controlled by this psychopath. "What is it you want?!"

His smiled returned. "What? I'm not allowed to come and visit my best friend?"

"I am NOT YOUR FRIEND!" she screamed.

Still smiling, he placed a hand upon his heart. "Kim. You wound me with your words... But if you really need a reason for my visit, its to deliver a message to my dear big brother."

Kim was surprised. "You know that Cloud's your..."

"Oh, you'd be surprised by how much I know, Kim. The darkness grants me knowledge as well as power."

This was yet again something she hadn't known before. Today had been an educational day. Still it made sense. Lifestream was made up of souls, all the knowledge and experience of everyone and everything that had ever lived flowed throughout the planet. Ron's power, though evil in nature, would be no different.

"What is your message?" she asked, coldly.

"As I've said, I've been unable to find anyone worth playing with. Seems most of the fighters have up and joined Shinra. So I've come to offer an invitation."

"Invitation?" Kim asked.

"Yes. I'm going to be waiting at the location of our last mission as Team Possible. You know, the one where I saved you from that big bad beastie? Still haven't heard a thank you for that by the way..."

"Get to the point!" she cut him off.

"Fine, fine," he snickered. "I'll be waiting there, so tell big brother he has as much time as he wants to prepare. Tell him to bring his worst! I am inviting him to try and stop me!"

After this he turned and started to levitate up off the ground, Kim called out to him. He hesitated because it was the first time she hadn't sounded totally cold towards him. Her voice had softened considerably.

"Ron."

He turned and looked at her curiously.

"Please fight it, Ron. Let go of the darkness, please! I want my best friend back."

Again that sinister smirk curved his lips. "Not going to happen, Kim."

"He pushed you down once before and he can do it again!" she snapped, sounding harsh again.

"Not this time, Kim. Not this time." He levitated up a few more feet, then shot off like a bullet off towards the distant horizon. His departure kicked up a gust of wind that nearly knocked Kim and Mrs Stoppable over, and a loud sonic boom.

Mrs Stoppable looked to where the speck disappeared into the distance, with tears running down her cheeks. "Ronnie..."

Kim looked sadly at the woman, as she pulled her cell phone of her utility belt and pressed the second number on her speed dial. She was answered almost immediately.

"Kim?"

"Sir, you need to get to Middleton NOW!"

XXXXX

To be continued...

Sorry for the long wait. I know I say that every time but I always mean it. Please try and give me a review. As I've said in the past, I'm determined to finish this story, and I will, whether it has a following or not. But to be honest the updates will probably come faster if I know people are reading. Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you.

-Jawelik 


	14. Chapter 13

Rebirth: Part 13

by Jawelik

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It hadn't taken much time for Cloud to mobilize an elite team and arrive at Middleton to meet Kim. Seemed he had been preparing for just such an occasion and not only had the best of Shinra army ready to go, but everyone from his old gang that had fought Sephiroth with him. He wasn't going to take any chances this time. This time he was bringing Ron back.

Now there were four Shinra military vans heading to the mako lake Ron had told Kim to meet him at. Each van had carried members of Cloud's assembled team. Kim found herself in a van with Cloud, Tifa, a dark skinned man with a gun arm and an animal that looked like either a large dog or a big cat with fiery red fur. She had heard about all of Cloud's friends from his stories since she had started training under him, but this was the first time she had met Barret and Red XIII.

She smiled a little timidly at the big guy first. "Um... Hi. I'm Kim Possible."

The man frowned a little and looked her up and down, scrutinizing her Shinra Armor. "So you're Spikey's protege, huh? Good little Shinra soldier, are ya-OW!"

Tifa smacked him upside the head. "Now is not the time for that! We have to concentrate on Ron!"

His frown deepened and he folded his arms like a sulking child. "Fine."

Always a girl who tried to avoid confrontation if she could, she decided to leave this hostile man alone for now, and hope for a friendlier reception from Red XIII. The Animal-like passenger in the van.

"Hi there. You're Red XIII, right? Cloud's told me all about you."

He smiled and nodded at the girl. "That is a name that I am well known by, yes. But my given name, and the name my friends call me is Nanaki."

"Well I hope that I can call you friend too," Kim said, smiling warmly. "Nanaki."

"I share that hope," he replied, before turning to Cloud. "She seems like a nice girl, Cloud. As always you seem to have good taste in companions."

"Says you," Barret grumbled angrily, before going silent after a glare from Tifa.

Kim had heard about Barret's irrational hatred of all Shinra from Cloud. How he judged people on the uniform alone. That aside though, Cloud was always adamant that Barret was a good man, and a friend. So Kim decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Didn't mean she wanted to talk to the guy right now though, when Nanaki seemed so much more agreeable. She returned her attention to her new friend.

"So do you know Ron?" she asked.

Nanaki nodded with a warm smile. "Yes, we met briefly. But I could tell right away that he had a good soul."

Tifa started giggling for some reason. "Actually, the story about how those two met is pretty funny."

Nanki's eyes went wide. "Oh please, Tifa! No!"

Kim looked at the wickedly pleased smile on Tifa's face, then the terrified look on Nanaki's. The she found herself smiling too. "Oooh, embarrassing story, huh? I like those... Y'know, as long as they're not about me."

"I know what you mean," Tifa giggled, as Nanaki's head drooped in defeat when he realized the story was going to be told.

"You see," Tifa began, "Ron worked at my restaurant for a few days a while back, and he was sitting out on the front steps one day when Nanaki walked up."

Deciding to pitch in, despite the embarrassment that was apparently coming his way, Nanaki added. "I was a little curious about him. I'd never seen him before, but he seemed to feel at home at Tifa's, so I walked up to ask him who he was. But before I could say anything, he... he..." He lowered his eyes, and if he wasn't already fiery red, Kim could swear he had started blushing.

"Ron reached out and said 'nice doggie,' and started scratching him behind the ears," Tifa said, laughing now. Even Cloud and the seemingly hostile Barret couldn't keep from smiling.

"He didn't!" Kim gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. She was half shocked, but at the same time was in hysterics just thinking about it. That was such a Ron thing to do. Trying to keep her giggles in check, she turned to Nanaki. "Oh I'm so sorry. What did you do?"

Tifa couldn't keep from laughing a little louder, as Nanaki averted his eyes from Kim's. "That's the really funny part. I came out to the front porch and what do I see? Nanaki's just sitting there with a content look on his face, just letting him scratch him behind the ears."

That did it. Not even Cloud or Barret could keep from laughing at that, the entire van erupted into fits of laughter. Nanaki jumped up onto all fours, and started shouting out excuses.

"He thought I was a Dog, and I didn't want to frighten the kid by talking! And I... I had and itch! Hey guys, stop laughing at me, come on!"

Kim wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes. She had really needed a good laugh after everything that had happened lately. And even when he wasn't around, Ron was still able to provide that laugh.

Tifa had tears of her own to wipe before she continued. "I just couldn't believe my eyes. I came up to them and asked what they were were doing, and the both say, 'hey Tifa.'" She barely stifled more laughter. "Then Ron's face goes totally white, he turn's and looks at Nanaki, and I tell ya I don't think he's ever jumped that high in his life!"

Again everyone was laughing, even Nanaki chuckles a little this time. And Tifa doesn't wait for the laughter to subside this time before continuing. "He leaps at least ten feet off the ground, somehow attaches himself to the wall and starts screaming. 'Ahhh! Taaalking dooog!' And Nakaki starts screaming back, 'I am NOT a dog!'"

"And let me guess," Kim giggles. "Ron says something along the lines of 'you can't fool me! I'm on to you, talking dog!'"

Tifa nodded. "Yeah. That's exactly what he said, how did you know?"

Kim shrugged. "I know my best friend better than anyone."

The laughter started to subside finally, but everyone in the van was smiling now. Kim started to wipe more tears from her eyes, but these ones weren't quite as mirthful.

"You know?" she sniffed. "He was always doing stuff like that. I used to complain about him embarrassing me all the time, but now... Now I think I'd give anything to be embarrassed by him again."

Tifa looked reassuringly at the red head, then decided to lift the mood again, by asking Nanaki something. "Hey, you know you never did tell me. Why did you let Ron scratch you behind the ears like that? You never let anyone do that."

Nanaki thought about that. "I'm not sure. The only other person who I allowed to treat me like a child like that was my grandfather."

"And Aeris," Cloud cut in. "I remember you told me once that she would do it, and you kinda liked the attention."

"That's true," he admitted.

Kim stared at him for a few moments. "Aeris? You mean Ron's sister?"

Nanaki's eyes went wide, and he looked right at Kim. "Ron... was Aeris' brother?"

"Well, yeah... Genetically at least."

A look of realization came over his face. "So that was what it was about him. He had her kindness. He had the same warmth in his eyes. And he knew the exact right spot behind my ears to scratch, just like she did. I can't believe I didn't see the connection before..." He sighed and looked to the floor, then ever so slowly raised his chin again, with a determined look shining in his eyes.

"We have to bring him back. We have to! There is no way we can lose him too!"

Everyone in the van nodded. All of them had been touched by Ron at some point, and all of them agreed on this one goal. Ron Stoppable had to be saved, no matter what.

XXXXX

Four Shinra military vans pulled up off a dirt road near a large mako lake. The back doors all opened, and some of the world's most powerful fighters started climbing out of each one. They all looked towards a small hill near the edge of the lake, where a young man with blond hair blowing in the wind, stood waiting with his back to them. He still wore his old mission clothes, combat boots, cargo pants and black top.

Cloud had gathered quite a force to take Ron down. Along with his 7 friends from his first battle with Sephiroth; Tifa, Barret, Vincent, Red XIII, Yuffie, Cid and Cait Sith, he also bought Kim's fellow SOLDIER First Class Graduates. Yori and Josh Mankey. He had considered bringing the full Shinra army along, but against one with Ron's power, lesser fighters would just slow things down.

If this collection of warriors couldn't take Ron down, no one could.

Slowly turning from where he was facing the mako lake, Ron looked down at his visitors. With an evil sneer on his face, none of his friends would ever expect from the Ron they knew. He chuckled darkly at them and slowly started to walk towards them. "Ah, you came to my party. I'm touched to see so many of my friends."

Everyone prepared for battle, taking out their various weapons. Cloud held up his massive sword and pointed in at Ron. "It's over Ron! This time we're taking you in!"

Ron calmly approached them, giving of an air of boundless confidence, even in the face of all the power before him. "Is that so? Well we'll see about that won't we..." He stopped and examined the group, as if he was picking out what to eat at a buffet. "Now who should I kill first? Decisions, decisions..."

Josh, a hand to hand combat specialist like Tifa, punched his fists togeter with a clang. His hands were clad in polished gauntlets, made of indestructible black metal. He had been known to demolish entire buildings with his fists, and he glared condesendingly at the former Shinra Private.

"You don't stand a chance, Randall! Give up now and you won't get hurt!"

Everyone in Cloud's group turned and looked at Josh like he was an idiot, and Ron frowned angrily. "Okay," Ron whispered coldly. "I've made up my mind now. Pretty boy first."

"Let's see you try it, loser!" Without warning, Josh leapt from the group, and flew thirty yards towards his target. The idiot was clearly ignoring the warnings Cloud had given his troops earlier, and was still judging Ron by his abysmal performance back in the Academy.

"MANKEY, NO!!" Cloud shouted. It was too late though, he was already engaging the enemy. Alone.

Ron just stood calmly when Josh came down on him, aiming a crushing downwards punch onto Ron's head. But Ron moved so fast no one could even follow it. Moved just enough to the side to avoid the metal clad fist from coming down on his skull. The attack came so close it kicked up Ron's hair as it came down beside him, and shattered the ground where he had just been standing.

Josh looked shocked up to the guy who had just avoided his attack like he had been moving in slow motion. Growling angrily he swung at him with enough force to total a truck, but again Ron moved faster than the eye could see, just enough for the blow to brush by him. Now Josh started attacking with an endless flurry of punch kick combinations, and Ron avoided every single blow. Casually stepping, and leaning his body around every one of Josh's attacks, he moved as if he knew every one of Josh's attacks before he made them. It was like Josh was in slow motion, and Ron was at super speed.

Roaring in frustration, Josh scraped the knuckles of his gauntlets together, kicking up sparks that caused both of his fists to burst into flames. Then when he punched intense balls of magical fire flew from his fists. Still though Ron dodged, making no move to strike back at all. But the intensity of Josh's flames was made clear every time he missed and hit a rock. Instead of shattering like they had before, they melted into glowing red puddles.

Cloud was furious. Not only had Mankey ignored the briefing and attacked alone, he was now using his deadliest technique, and was clearly aiming for Ron's vitals. He had made it clear to everyone that this was a retrieval mission, Ron was to be bought back alive!

For a few moments more Ron dodged Josh's extremely fast attacks with ease, then finally he made a move of his own, catching one of his opponent's burning fists in his bare hand. Staring wide eyed at Ron, Josh tried to punch with his other hand, only to have that one caught too.

"Is that all you've got, pretty boy?" he sneered.

Josh was stupefied. "This isn't possible, these flames are--"

"What?" Ron cut him off. "Are these supposed to be hot? I can barely feel it." Before Josh could make a retort, Ron started to squeeze down on the metal clad fists, causing the almost indestructible black metal to start to crack and buckle. While starting to groan and struggle under the pressure, he was completely taken off guard by a immensely powerful kick to his stomach, that sent him flying back, and knocked him out of his gloves.

Crushing the two gauntlets in his hands like soda cans, he dropped them and unsheathed his sword. He approached Josh, who was now imbedded in a crater in the cliff face. His armor shattered, and the fabric of his body suit badly torn along with his flesh, he was bleeding badly. It was clearly one hell of a kick he had been hit with.

"Well... That wasn't any fun at all," he growled, looking into the frightened blue eyes of his enemy. "Guess I'll have to settle for cutting you into pieces to get my jollies, huh?" He flew at incredible speed to his helpless victim, the glowing red lotus blade held aloft, ready to rend and flay.

He bought it down hard on his immobilized victim, but at the last moment a black blur, topped with red moved into his path, and he found his sword caught in the crossed blades of two emerald metal daggers. And he was being glared at by two equally emerald eyes.

"Hold it right there!" Kim growled.

The smile that appeared on Ron's face was about a warm as a smile could look on a face, with eyes that shined with so much malevolence. "Kim," he admonished, shaking his head. "First Bonnie, now Monkey Boy? Are you going to stop me from killing everyone I hate?"

Kim's eyes narrowed to slits. "I am not going to let you get blood on my friend's hands!"

He snickered at that. "But Kim. Red is my favorite color."

"You're coming with us, Ron! One way or another. You can come along peacefully, or in a stretcher! Your choice!"

"Oh plenty of people are going to be leaving here in stretchers, Kim. Some in body bags. But I'm not going to be one of them."

"I take it you're not coming peacefully then," she growled, twisting her daggers to hold Ron's sword in place. "Fine have it your way!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Cloud flew at Ron's side, drawing his sword back for a strike while Kim held the Lotus Blade immobile. Ron seemed to be taken of guard by this tactic, but at the last moment he pulled one hand from his trapped sword, and moved it to intercept Cloud. Not even Ron though, would be able to stop a weapon like Cloud's with his bare hands, without getting hurt.

CLANG!

Kim and Cloud both looked wide eyed at what had happened. Though Kim was still holding Ron's weapon in place, Cloud's massive sword had still been intercepted. By a second Lotus Blade, held in Ron's free hand.

Kim stared at Ron's smirking face. "You have two?!"

Ron's evil chuckle sent a shiver down Kim's spine. "Funny isn't it? Your Ron had this sword for most of his life, and still never unlocked its true power."

Cloud's mako eyes narrowed. "True power?"

"The Lotus blade isn't just a sword," he said, before his twin Katanas suddenly turned into a pair of shields. The sudden change took both the general and his protege off guard, allowing him to push both of them back. "Its anything I want it to be."

Cautiously Cloud and Kim pulled back and slowly started to circle him. That's when Ron noticed that the rest of his old friends had surrounded him while he had been busy with the pair. One of Ron's two shields turned back into a sword, and he smiled at his opponents.

"Well... This looks like fun."

XXXXX

The first one to approach Ron this time was Barret. His cybernetic hand whirred and hissed, as it transformed into a powerful looking machine gun, which he hesitantly aimed at the blonde teenager.

"Come on, kid, don't make us fight ya. We're buds, remember? Just come along with us nice and quiet, and we'll all help ya get your head straight."

Ron stared with a completely nonchalant smile. "Buds huh? ... You know Barret there have always been two Ron's. The weak one you knew. And me. The strong one."

Barret's look hardened. "My buddy ain't weak!"

"Oh yes. He is. You see Barret, one of the many differences between me and him is that he's a forgiving guy. I'm not. Don't think I've forgotten how you punched me in the face with that metal hand of yours when we first met?"

Barret's gun arm started to shake noticeably. "That was a long time ago! I apologized and Ron forgave me!"

"Yeah, but what did I just say, big guy? I'm not as forgiving as he is." He started to walk forward, tightening his grip on his sword. "I think I'm gonna rip off that fancy arm of yours off and use it to crush your skull."

Barret fired of a burst of ammo, which kicked up the dirt a few inches in front of Ron's feet. He didn't even flinch though, just kept walking. "Please, Kid! Stop! Don't make me do this again, don't make me fight another friend!"

Ron paused, and smiled widely, his eyes wide and insane looking. "Oh. You're talking about Dyne?"

The big black man's eyes went wide. "How did you..."

"Know about Dyne? Please, I am connected to the dark soul of the planet, and all the knowledge therein. I know of all of Dyne's hatred and resentment for you Barret. I know how your weakness cost everyone in your village their lives. Including your wife. Maybe I should grant Dyne's final wish after I'm done here? Sending little Marlene, to join him and her mother..."

"NOOOOO!!" Barret roared ferociously, as he fired at Ron on full auto. "YOU LEAVE MY BABY OUT OF THIS!!"

Ron had blocked every round with his shield, then pulled the now smoking barrier to the side when Barret had finished firing. "Well, well. I'd swear you just tried to kill me. Still, its hardly surprising. You having so much experience betraying and murdering your friends."

He lowered his gun-arm a little, with a hateful glare. "Ron is my friend. But you're not him! You're just some evil homicidal freak using his body." He raised his arm again and aimed. "But if getting my friend back, means taking in someone like you alive, then that's what I'm going to do!"

"Please. Ron was never your friend. He acted nice like he did with everyone, but when it came down to it he didn't have the guts to tell you the truth. That he hates your guts just as much as I do."

The hurt look on Barret's face made it clear that a nerve had been hit. On a certain level he had always been scared that he had done something unforgivable by hitting Ron when he had first met him. Just because of a uniform, he had punched him in the face with a metal fist, fully intending to put the kid in the hospital. And in the end it turned out Ron was one of the nicest kids he had ever known. He hated the thought of Ron hating him, almost as much as the thought of his daughter hating him.

"Th... that's a lie..." he stammered.

He held out his sword, with that insane look in his eyes again. "You don't sound so sure about that, big guy.

"Ron's my friend, he..."

He was cut off, when in a blink of and eye Ron seemed to teleport from where he was standing to inches in front of Barret. No one even saw him swing his sword, but Barret's artificial hand started to fall, cleanly cut from his arm. Barret gasped in pain. Ron had only cut through the metal, and missed any flesh, but the hand was still tied directly to his nerve receptors so it still hurt like hell.

Before the hand could hit the floor, he was kicked in the stomach like Josh had been earlier, and send flying back hard into the cliff wall. Ron caught the falling severed metal hand, then tossed it as hard as he could at the man it had just been separated from. It flew at his head with tremendous speed and force. It seemed Ron was going to stick to his earlier plan to crush Barret's skull with his own hand.

A brown haired blur flew into the projectile from the side, and with a ferocious punch sent it flying, where it hit the cliff wall hard and buried itself deep into the rock. Ron smiled at Barret's rescuer. "Tifa. So nice to..."

Before he could finish she had charged at him, running at him so fast she blurred. She was on him in less than a second, and immediately started attacking with numerous punch kick combinations. Tifa's blow's were quick, precise, powerful and executed with impeccable technique. Within moments she had connected with a right to Ron's face that sent him flying backwards.

The blonde boy somersaulted as he flew back and skidded backwards, standing there like he just been hit by a gentle breeze. The punch might have knocked him off his feet, but it was obvious he hadn't felt it. "Tifa, that wasn't bad. You're so far beyond that Mankey chump, I almost feel sorry for him."

Again there was no talking from Tifa. She just shot foward and started attacking. Ron blurred, and moved so fast he actually seemed to teleport from where Tifa was about to start punching to about twenty feet behind her. "What, Tifa? No chit chat? No pleading for the 'real Ron' to fight me? I'm hurt."

"You've made it quite clear there's no reasoning with you," she snapped back. "The only way we're going to get our friend back is by kicking his ass! And that's what I'm going to do!"

"You don't seriously consider him a friend, do you Tifa? Be honest with yourself."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked, seeming genuinely confused. "Ron is one of the best fr--"

"Remember how he ogled you when you first met?" he cut her off, smiling wickedly.

She hesitated. "That... that was nothing."

"Sure it was Tifa, don't think that I don't know. A pretty girl like you, with your assets?" He cupped his hands in front of his chest to emphasize. "Don't think that I don't know you've always attracted the wrong kind of men. Those that leer at you like a piece of meat, even grab at you. Men who pursue you as a conquest, but never to be with the real you. Hell. If not for your martial arts skills you probably would have been raped dozens of times by n..."

"STOP IT!!" she screamed.

Ron's smile radiated pure evil, seeing that he had hit a nerve with yet another former friend. "I know you saw him staring at you when he thought you wouldn't notice. I know you saw him checking you out. And I know you hated it."

She started shaking her head. "No! No, it wasn't like that, Ron was a nice guy. Just your average hormonal teenager, I would never hold that against him! He was a nice guy!"

"Was he? Or was he just playing the nice guy? You know men will do that to get into the pants of a hot girl? That's all Ron wanted. He never gave a damn about you!"

"That's a lie! I know Ron!" she cried.

"Oh I think I know him better than you," he snickered evilly.

Tifa held her fists to her sides, clenched tightly, with arms shaking. Ron had tapped into one of her deepest insecurities. She really had always drawn the attention of the wrong kind of men, and she had always had a great deal of trouble trusting them as a result. And she really did despise being ogled. Didn't like it when Ron did it, but had always decided to forgive him for it, because of the whole hormonal teenager thing. But when it came down to it, she really hadn't known Ron all that long. Could this darkside of him be telling the truth? He wouldn't hesitate telling her the truth if he knew it would upset her, so maybe...

"Don't you even think about listening to those lies, Tifa!" Kim snapped, pulling her out of her reverie. "No one knows my best friend better than me, and he's not like that! Sure he likes girls, and can even act a little inappropriate sometimes, but his friends are too important to him! Trust me Tifa. My best friend would never hurt you like that."

Tifa felt herself calming. She didn't know what had come over her! Letting this freak twist her precious memories of her dear friend like that! Now she was pissed!

"I suggest everyone takes Kim's advice, and doesn't listen to him," Cloud shouted. "He seems to be able to tap into our fears and insecurities, so try to tune him out! Everyone get into formation, and we'll take him together."

"Oh, isn't big brother a quick one? Figuring out my game so fast, and spoiling all my fun. And I had some juicy little tidbits on hold about your mother and Nanaki's Grandfather too."

Nanaki growled ferociously at the mention of his late grandfather, but quietened when Tifa placed a hand on his head and gave him a reassuring look.

"Right," the Canine-like creature said with a nod. "Tune him out."

Ron sighed. "Awww, no more psychological warfare? Such a shame..." He held up his sword as the squad members who were still standing started to circle him. "Looks like I'm gonna have to switch to the conventional warfare then, huh?"

They weren't taking any chances this time. Everyone charged at him at once. Everyone except Yori, who held her pair of Tessen(Combat Fans) with a worried look on her face.

The nine warriors who attacked Ron were not only strong, but well coordinated. Cloud and his old gang had fought in numerous battles together, and Kim had trained with him for more than a year, so the assault was relentless. The team work was perfect.

Ron leapt high into the air, and his nine opponents leapt up after him. The first two to attack were Tifa and Yuffie from both sides. Ron intercepted Yuffie's giant shuriken with his sword, while staving off Tifa with his shield, but was surprised when he looked up into the barrel of a gun aimed at his face. Vincent Valentine seemed to float down like a fallen angel as he pulled his trigger, while both of Ron's arms were occupied.

The bullet hit him square between the eyes, but didn't even break the skin. It did manage to knock him out of the air though, and send him shooting towards the ground like a meteorite. Just before hitting the ground, he flipped right way up, and landed gracefully, dropping to a single knee. As soon as he returned to his feet though, he was attacked from behind by Nanaki.

The red furred warrior clung onto his shoulders with his claws, and sunk his fangs into the side of his neck. He failed to break the skin, but he still didn't let go. Something that appeared to be a stuffed cartoon cat toy jumped off of Nanaki's back, and started hitting Ron in the side of the head with something that looked like a megaphone.

Ron twisted around and elbowed Nanaki it the ribs, which sent him rolling over the hard rock ground with a yelp. "Bad doggie!" Reaching up and grabbing the living toy Cait Sith off his shoulder by the throat, he glowered at him, while squeezing his throat. "And a bad kitty." Grabbing the torso of the toy, Ron ripped its head off and dropped the two now lifeless pieces to the ground.

The next attack was from the spear wielding old pilot Cid, who came at Ron spinning his spear, and tried to hit him with a number of skillful stabs and swings which Ron easily avoided. He then Pushed the spear aside with his sword, and slammed the pilot in the face with his shield.

Ron didn't see until too late, Kim and Cloud were glowing with limit energies. With two successive downwards strokes of her daggers Kim send a pair of red energy blades flying at him. Then jumping aside, she allowed Cloud to send a bigger faster blade beam of his own, made up of blue energy in the wake of hers. In mid flight towards Ron, Kim's two beams were absorbed by Cloud's, to form an even larger purple blade which crackled with the combined limit energies of two powerful warriors. The whole attack was executed so quickly, Ron didn't even manage to dodge before it slammed into him, and took him along for the ride before crushing him into the cliff side and exploding magnificently.

All the combatants watched as the smoke cleared, and saw Ron buried in a massive crater, half buried by shattered rocks. His mission clothes were a little torn up, and they seemed to have managed to break the skin this time. He was bleeding from a few small cuts and abrasions.

Kim looked at the decapitated Cait Sith. "Oh no! We lost the little cat guy!"

"Don't worry about it, Cait Sit is just a toy animated by magic," Cloud assured. "He's controlled from the Shinra Academy."

Kim glanced at him. "By who?"

Cloud hesitated a little before answering. Cait Sith's secret wasn't public knowledge, but there weren't many people he trusted as much as Kim. "Reeve."

"Well, that was really pretty good," Ron snickered, as he pulled himself out of the rubble, putting everyone back on their guard. "That one actually hurt a little. Never seen two people combine their limit breaks like that before. You two must really be in sync, to pull off something that advanced."

"That little attack was just us going easy on you," Kim warned. "Why don't you give up before me and Cloud really let loose?"

"She's right Ron," Cloud said. "You may have become strong, but judging from this fight I doubt you can hold out against all of us."

Ron nodded thoughtfully as he recombined his sword and shield into one sword with a flash of light, then returned it to the sheath on his back. "You may be right Cloud... Then again... Maybe I just need to stop holding back?"

Everyone looked shocked by this revelation. "What do you mean?" Cloud asked.

"Well I wanted to keep the fight interesting, so up until now I've only been fighting at about ten percent power." With his wicked smile, he started to glow with dark blue energy which gave of black mist. "How about I turn things up a bit now?"

"Get him!" Cloud shouted, in desperation. "Get him now before he powers up!"

Everyone charged at him, but once they got close, Ron's blue/black energy exploded outwards from his body and knocked them all back and onto the ground. A orb of condensed black energy the size of a tennis ball started to form over his palm, which started to spawn other identical orbs that flew into the sky. Within moments hundreds of smoking blue orbs were shooting into the sky out of his hand, and those orbs spawned more of their own. They multiplied from hundreds to thousands to hundreds of thousands. Then to the horror of those below, every one of the balls started to fall down on them, like some kind of nightmarish lethal rain.

"Oh..." Cloud started.

"Snap!" Kim finished.

The first ball to hit the ground didn't land on anyone, but the large rock shattering explosion showed everyone what was to come with the numerous other falling spheres. They started to hit the ground and explode ten at a time, then twenty, then forty, continuing to multiply until there was no way to avoid them. The devastating shower, soon sent everyone flying, everyone was hit with numerous explosive magic grenades. The onslaught kicked up smoke and dust, but once it cleared, Ron was free to admire his handy work. All of his enemies, lying sprawled out on the ground, groaning and drained of energy.

"What... the HELL was that?!" Cid groaned, using all his strength to push himself up onto his hands and knees.

Nanaki groaned and examined his badly singed fur. "It resembled... Ultima magic... But it was too dark."

Ron slowly approached Cloud, who was climbing back onto his feet, using his sword as a crutch.

"So, big brother. What do you think of me now?"

"How... Can you use magic? You don't have any materia!"

"Come on Cloud, materia is just condensed solidified lifestream. And I am connected directly to the dark lifestream of the planet! All that knowledge and all that power are at my disposal! I am so far beyond materia."

He looked at everyone that had fought with him and saw they were all hurt, but alive. "You could have easily killed us with a spell like that. Why didn't you?"

"Kill you? You guys are the only ones on this miserable planet worth fighting. Who will I play with if all of you died? No. I find someone stronger, then I'll gladly finish all of you off."

Still holding his sword for support, Cloud stood up straight. "I don't care how strong you are, I'm taking you in, and I'm getting my brother back!"

He laughed at that. "Big words, brother. But look at yourself. Look at your troops. Who here has the strength to so much as lift their weapon, let alone beat me?"

XXXXX

Bonnie and Elena prepared on a Cliff outcropping about two miles from the battle. Bonnie had disassembled then reassembled her new rifle, to make sure it had been built to her exact specifications. It had. She noted that she was going to have to go to Sci-Tech and give a pat on the back to the engineers who had put it together for her.

Elena stood to the side watching the fight with a pair of high tech binoculars, while Bonnie loaded her rifle with the special materia tipped rounds. She had tested the gun earlier with some normal rounds and it had worked great.

"Woah," Elena chuckled. "Stoppable just handed that Josh kid his own ass."

"Judging from what I read from Mankey's psych profile, he probably underestimated Ron because of his rank," Bonnie mused offhandedly. "Pompous moron." Bonnie prided herself on not just being tough, but smart. So she made sure to know everything she could about the higher ranking soldiers and officials in Shinra.

Elena lowered her binoculars and glanced at her partner, who was setting up a small tripod for her rifle. "They're quite far away, Bonnie you sure you don't want to get closer?"

"Its only two miles. I could shoot the wings off a fly at this range, especially with this baby," she held up the rifle to emphasize. "Don't even have to compensate to the wind with this, it almost makes it too easy."

Elena smiled, as Bonnie hooked up the rifle to the tripod. "You know Bonnie, the Turks are lucky to have found you. Your an absolute asset."

Bonnie paused. "No I'm not... I should have been ready for Ron to show up in front of Kim back in Middleton. Instead, like some kind of incompetent idiot I was three blocks away in that stupid car."

"There's no way you could have known he'd show," Elena assured.

"But Kim was my tail, I should have stuck to her. Instead of relying on that stupid bug."

Elena reached over and grabbed Bonnie's shoulder. "Listen Bonnie. I know what it's like to be the new girl in the Turks. Doesn't seem that long ago it was me that had just passed all the tests, and was put to the field. I was nervous as hell and determined to make the Turks Proud. A couple of screw ups are to be expected, but the things you've been beating yourself up over are hardly screw ups. Just unfortunate circumstances."

"Bonnie. You're the most gifted and talented Turk to come along in a long time. You're gonna outrank all of us soon, and I also think that Tseng has his eye on you for his successor when he retires."

Bonnie was startled by this. "Really?"

She nodded. "Really. I'll admit I'm a bit jealous, but its impossible to deny that you're the most qualified out of us. Reno's a moron, Rude has that 'never talks' thing, and me... Well to be honest Bonnie, you're just a much better Turk than I am. You're always so worried about screwing up, but you haven't done anything even close to the monumentally stupid things I did when I first got this job. Man I still don't know why I wasn't fired!"

Bonnie giggled. "So I'm doing okay?"

"You're doing better than okay. Listen, quit worrying. If you ever do screw up, big sister will call you on it, okay?"

She hesitated then nodded. "You know, Elena. I really hate both my big sisters. I don't want to think of you like I do them."

"Then don't," she shrugged. "I can be the big sister you actually get along with."

Bonnie smiled widely and nodded. "I'd like that."

Elena stepped away and looked into the binoculars. "Okay, that's enough warm fuzzy feelings, little sister. Time for work."

"Right," Bonnie said, lying down on her stomach behind her tripod mounted rifle. She looked through the telescopic lens and followed Ron, while Elena was getting the same picture with her binoculars.

"Looks like Stoppable's having some trouble with Cloud's gang," the blonde Turk mused. "They might actually capture him at this rate."

Bonnie felt herself smiling for some reason. "Guess he wasn't as strong as we thought. Maybe I don't have to kill him after all."

Elena lowered her glasses and looked sidelong at Bonnie curiously, then wordlessly returned her attention to the battle. "Woah! Did those two just combine their Limit breaks?"

"Yeah," Bonnie nodded. "Not bad."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah. Its really advanced, and I've never actually seen it before. They would have to be very close, spiritually and emotionally, and be in complete sync with each other in the heat of battle."

Elena started chuckling evilly. "They need to be really close, huh? You think Kim and the General get in a little horizontal training together after hours?"

Usually Bonnie would jump at the chance to make false accusations and slander her rival, but when she was working she tended to be more serious. "No. Not Kim. If anything she's a complete professional. She'd never do that. Besides, she puts the General on way to high of a pedestal for romantic feelings to even occur to her. Also Cloud see's her as a little sister, more than anything. That and he's quite seriously involved with a woman named Tifa Lockheart, and he's far too loyal to ever think about cheating on her, even if he wanted to."

Again Elena looked sidelong at her partner. "You know Bonnie, I wish I could read people like you."

"It does come in handy."

Both of them gasped suddenly, then pulled away there telescopic devices to watch the impromtu light show from a distance. From where they were standing, blue/black sparks were flying up into the sky, and multiplying at a phenomenal rate, before starting to rain down on the warriors below.

"What the hell kinda magic is that?" Elena gasped.

"A very advanced kind."

Both watched the onslaught as thousands of explosions hammered down those who were trying save Ron. Bonnie felt her heart sink. Those guys would be lucky to survive something like that, let alone stand up and stop Ron.

"Looks like its up to you, little sister. Lets see if he can survive a materia tipped round moving at the speed of light."

Nodding solemnly, she looked back into the scope and bought the crosshairs over the side of Ron's head as he approached Cloud, who was struggling back to his feet. She repressed a shiver as she wrapped her finger around the trigger, and centered her aim on one of those big cute ears of his...

She hesitated. Nothing about him was cute! He was weird! He always had been! But now that she thought about it, his cuteness was kinda weird too. How he managed to be cute without being a hottie. That was part of his weirdness she had never noticed. So was the fact that he had always been really nice to her, even when she was anything but. And the weirdest thing of all? She really REALLY didn't want to end his life.

Bonnie loosened her finger from the trigger. "Elena?"

"Yeah?"

"Is... is this my fault?"

Elena stared. "What do you mean?"

"He went all crazy like this after what I did, right? I'd always beat the guy up, but that was one of the worst beatings I had ever given him... And then I said those things... Is this my fault?"

She was frowning now. "Since when do you even care about that loser? First he was some weakling with no life, and now he's a threat that needs killing. What's the matter?"

"Ron was a nice guy..."

"And you know where nice guys finish."

"Yeah, I know that... But..." He lowered her hand to her stomach, where the stab wound had almost healed thanks to the healing nanites still in her bloodstream. "Ron... The real Ron... He never would have hurt me in a million years. He was just too gentle." She sighed sadly. "If I had a choice between that loser, and this monster. I'd choose the loser... I don't wanna kill him, Elena, I... I think I'd miss him if he were gone..."

"Bonnie. Look at me."

She turned and looked into the serious blue eyes of her colleague.

"What are you?"

"Huh?"

"What are you, Bonnie?"

She paused, then remembered the answer and looked right back into her eyes. "I'm a Turk."

"And what do the Turks always do? Not matter what?"

Bonnie felt her eyes burn, as she held back her tears. "The Turks... always do their job." Nodding solemnly, she returned her eye to the scope, and zeroed in on Ron's head again. He appeared to be speaking to Cloud, as she tightened her finger around the trigger. "I'm sorry, Ron. Orders are orders."

She pulled the trigger.

XXXXX

"Who here has the strength to so much as lift their weapon, let alone beat me?"

Cloud glowered hatefully. "I know there has to be a way! And we'll find it."

He shook his head, as if he was trying to explain something to a slow child. "There is no way, big brother..."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Fine," he shrugged. "But there is no way to stop me."

"There is always a way!"

He chuckled. "You really have no idea what you're dealing with do you?"

"Oh, I know! You may be the embodiment of all the darkness in the planet, but I don't care how powerful you are! You're not keeping my brother!"

"Oh Cloud, a single tear rolls down my cheek... What, are you trying to defeat me by making me violently ill?!"

"You're essentially Ron's darkside. But I know my brother is still in there somewhere."

"So that's what you think? I'm Ron's darkside?"

He paused. "Aren't you?"

"Well... You're half right. You see, Ron held me imprisoned his entire life. I was only ever free to roam his dreams, but never stopped trying to gain control. But even after he finally gave me control in order to save Kim a year ago... Well... he was still extremely stubborn. Even with his defenses so greatly weakened when he freed me, I still couldn't break through."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm did what anyone does when they're given a task they can't possibly do alone. I found help. Someone to help me wear away at Ron Stoppable's willpower, and defenses. Someone to help me be free. And as you can plainly see it worked wonderfully. And my helper is in here with me. We share this body as one."

Cloud gathered his strength to lift his sword and point it at him. He felt a cold chill running down his spine at these revelations. "Who are you?!"

Ron drew the Lotus blade, and smiled. "Have you really forgotten me already, Cloud? It wasn't all that long ago that I told you..." Ron's sword started to grow until it was longer than he was tall, and Cloud finally recognized the malevolence in Ron's glowing mako eyes. "... I will never be a memory."

"No!" Cloud gasped, his eyes wide. "Sephiroth!"

XXXXX

to be continued...

Sorry for the wait, readers... Yeah, I know. Waiting sucks. On the bright side though I am going to finish this. No matter what, short of me getting hit by a truck or something of course.

Anyway just to cover a few possible questions about this chapter. Like who is Dyne? Or Nanaki's grandpa? Well it's all explained in the original Final Fantasy VII game, and you don't really need to know to follow this story. Just that they're sore spots for Barret and Nanaki. Don't wanna spoil too much if any of you guys decide to play it.

Well, being as I know that Author's Notes usually get skipped entirely, I won't put too much effort into to these ones, and finish them here. Please leave me a review. =)

-Jawelik 


	15. Chapter 14

Rebirth: Part 14

by Jawelik

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

For a bullet (or anything for that matter) to move at speeds approaching that of light, there are many problems. Problems that Shinra's scientists had toiled for weeks to solve. The bullet didn't only have to be aerodynamically designed, but strong enough to stay intact under such incredible speeds. Close to indestructible.

So for such a bullet to be moving at such speed towards the side of someone's head, it was unthinkable that it would fail to kill its target...

Unthinkable to most people at least. Just not Ron apparently.

His hand had to have shot up at speeds greater than light, in order to catch the bullet between two fingers the way he did. And something that had been moving so fast to suddenly stop, kicked up a powerful gust of wind strong enough to knock most people back for miles... It just caused Ron's hair to blow to the side.

Looking indifferently at Cloud, Ron sighed. "Well... That's just plain rude. I'm in the middle of a conversation here."

Cloud was still staring wide eyed at his opponent. He couldn't believe what he had just been told. That Ron was two people in one. One was Ron's dark side. The other Sephiroth.

Ron lowered the bullet from where it was caught less than an inch from his ear, then glanced at it raising a curious eyebrow. "Materia tipped, huh? Nice." He glanced off to the side where the bullet had come from, then looked back into Cloud's eyes. "Excuse me for a moment would you?"

Then he blurred and vanished from sight.

Cloud found himself breathing hard, clutching the handle of the sword he was using for a crutch until his knuckles turned white, and shaking. Then he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"COME BACK HERE!!"

XXXXX

Bonnie's eyes went wide when she had seen it through the scope of her rifle. He had caught it! With only two fingers! That shouldn't have even been possible, no matter how powerful he was!

She felt her blood run cold when Ron examined the bullet then turned to glance at her. Though she was miles away, she felt him looking straight into her eyes. Bonnie had always considered herself a pretty brave girl, but those eyes terrified her. For the first time in her life, all she wanted to do was run away and hide.

She let out a frightened gasp when she lifted her eyes from her scope. One moment she was looking into those ice cold mako eyes from two hundred miles through a scope, and the next they were right in front of her. In the split second it had taken for her to lift her eyes, he had moved the whole distance and now his smiling face was just inches from hers.

"Hello Bonbon... Nice gun." He grabbed the barrel of the rifle, and effortlessly bent the super strong metal upwards. "I'm at full power, and that bullet actually managed to chafe my fingers."

Jumping back with fright, back to her feet, she reached into the folds of her coat with both hands to pull out her new pistols. Ron was on her in a flash though, using a simple backhand to knock them out of her hands before she could get off a single shot. Then his left hand shot forward, he grabbed her throat and lifted her up off the ground.

"Bonnie!" Alena cried. She didn't hesitate to jump at Ron and throw a punch, her fists clad in red leather fighting gloves.

Ron didn't even glance in her direction, just knocked her away with a backhanded blow that threw her into the cliff side and knocked her unconscious.

"Alena!" Bonnie wheezed through her constricted throat.

Ron smiled evilly. "I think you should be worrying more about yourself," he snickered, slowly drawing his sword from the sheath on his back.

Bonnie found herself struggling to get free from his iron grip. She wasn't used to being scared of anyone or anything, she had always been pretty much fearless. This feeling of terror was very new to her.

Ron, holding his softly glowing red blade paused and looked her up and down. Then he smiled. For a moment Bonnie wondered if he was checking her out. The implications of that were almost as scary as what he would do with that sword.

"Bonbon. I've only just noticed. You and Cloud... You both healed really fast."

Bonnie shivered when she caught the malevolent smile on his face. "Guess I need to cut you up a lot more this time, huh?

"No! Ple-AH!!" she gasped, when Ron shoved his sword through the exact same spot he'd stabbed her last time. Then releasing her throat, she kicked her off his sword and hard into the cliff wall. She groaned and crumpled to her knees.

"No time for playing around this time, Bonbon. But I think I should be able to wound you so you can die nice and slow." He raised his sword and bought it down on her hard.

*CLANG*

Ron frowned at the person who had caught his sword between her daggers. "Again, Kim? Come on, you hate her as much as me! Just turn a blind eye and left me finish her. No one will know."

That clearly offended the red head, from the hateful look that appeared in her eyes. "I'm not a killer! And neither is Ron!"

"Never too late to learn a new skill, Kim. And who better to be your first kill than Miss Queen B Rockwaller?"

"Keep dreaming, psycho!" Kim hissed.

"SEPHIROTH!!"

The scream came from behind him, and Ron turned just in time to intercept Cloud's massive sword with the Lotus Blade. Cloud seemed to have found his second wind, as he attacked with dozens of brutal sword strikes. Usually when Cloud fought he always kept and eerie calm about him, but no one had ever seen him look this angry. He was hammering at Ron with his sword, not letting up for a second. He was furious.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER, SEPHIROTH!! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM TOO, GIVE HIM BACK!!"

Ron held back the assault easily, and the next thing Cloud knew he was laying on his back with a large diagonal slash across his chest. He hadn't even seen Ron swing his sword.

He walked up and stepped on Cloud's new wound, causing him to gasp. "Give you your brother back?" he asked, a look of disdain upon his features. "You are so pathetically weak, Cloud. And now that I think on it, you don't even deserve to live. Like someone like you could ever offer me a challenge... I don't know what I was thinking, deciding to spare your life."

Lifting his sword, he bought it down on the General's head, but again he was intercepted by Kim at the last second. And again he frowned at her. "Now, Kimila. This could get majorly annoying if you keep it up."

"If you want to kill anyone, you have to kill me first!" she snapped.

He tilted his head to the side with a curious expression. "I could never hurt you, Kim."

This made her mirror his confused look. "You can't? Why not?"

Pulling his sword away from Kim's crossed daggers, he returned it to its sheath. "Me... and the Ron you want back... we have always been polar opposites. He's good, I'm evil. He likes life, I like death. He's weak. I'm strong."

That last one caused an angry vein to pop up on Kim's forehead, but she held her tongue for now.

"But strangely enough... among our massive cornucopia of differences... there is one thing the two of us actually have in common. One thing the two of us agree on."

Again she was curious. "And what's that?"

"Well you don't know about it. Ron kept it secret. The difference between me and him though is that I'm not afraid to come out and say it."

She frowned. "Can we get to the point, please?"

He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, and she gasped and tried to struggle. "Hey! Let go!" She froze though when she looked into his eyes.

"This is the only time he and I will speak as one," he whispered, looking seriously into her eyes. "The reason I could never harm you... is that we love you... Kim Possible."

Kim was frozen. The look in his eyes had taken off guard because of their warmth. That was Ron's warmth. And just as she was starting to return to her senses she realized his lips were pressed against hers. For a few moments she struggled, but he held her shoulders tight. And then she realized that this was Ron kissing her. Her Ron. His warmth, his love, his affection. This was her Ron coming through the darkness, she could feel it.

So she kissed back. She had never even entertained the notion of kissing her best friend in the past, but this seemed so much more right than anything she had ever done before. Kissing Ron was right. And good. Very good. Kisses with Josh never made her feel like this!

Ron slowly pulled out of the kiss, and released her shoulders. All the strength was suddenly drained from her legs and she fell to her knees looking blankly up into his eyes. They still held their warmth.

"R... Ron," she whispered.

Ever so slowly she witnessed Ron's warmth fade and the icy cold of his darkside reassert itself. This made Kim scowl. "Give him back!"

"We both love you Kim. But I'm the one who's going to get the girl."

She cringed. "Not in this lifetime you're not. So not my type."

He smirked then turned and walked away. "You'll come around."

"Sephiroth," Cloud breathed, as he forced himself back to his feet. He held his sword in one hand and held the wound in his chest with the other. "We're not finished!"

"Oh no. Not by a long shot Cloud. But I think our business can wait until next time." And then he suddenly blurred out of sight.

"Come back!" Cloud gasped. "I won't let you take him too Sephiroth, I won't!" He fell to his knees, still holding his chest and looking to the ground with a miserable look. "Not him too..."

XXXXX

Cloud had collapsed soon after Ron disappeared. He seemed completely drained, and Kim was quick to check on him. He seemed more tired than anything. The wound on his chest didn't seem to be bleeding too heavily, and Kim was relieved when she realized he was going to be just fine. She doubted he was going to be getting up again for a while though.

Leaving him to rest, she moved on to check on Bonnie. She was sitting up against the cliff wall, holding her reopened wound when Kim knelt down in front of her.

"Are you okay, Bonnie," Kim asked, calmly.

Bonnie looked up at her long time rival, but before she could make a reply she was cut of.

"Bonnie!" Alena cried, running up and rudely shoving Kim to the side. "Out of my way, Possible!"

Kim landed hard and unceremoniously on her butt. "Owww!" she whined, glaring up at the blonde who now knelt down in front of Bonnie. "Was that really necessary?!"

Alena ignored her, and looked worriedly at her wounded comrade. "Are you okay?"

Bonnie smiled softly. "Yeah, I think so. I'm not bleeding like I did last time... Can't believe he hit me in the exact same spot though."

Alena's expression turned cold. "Bastard. He's going to pay for this."

Bonnie opened her coat and looked at the blood stained area of her white shirt. "You know its kinda weird that I'm not bleeding as much this time. It doesn't really even hurt that much anymore."

Alena thought on that for a moment, then smiled. "Its probably those nanites you were injected with."

Bonnie frowned. "Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about those. The thought of them is still kinda gross."

Kim froze. She'd forgotten about them too. But now she turned to look at Cloud, who she was sure was out for the count for at least the next two hours. He was already a good distance away, walking back towards the rest of their group.

"General!" she gasped, jumping to her feet and running after him.

XXXXX

The rest of Cloud's group were getting up from the ground and checking up on each other. Every one of them were badly battered and bruised, and most of them were bleeding, but it could have been worse. It had been well within Ron's power to wipe out every single one of them with that last attack. No one was sure why he hadn't.

"Is everyone okay?" Yuffie asked as the group gathered together.

"#%$ing ow!" Barret whined, rubbing the back of his head with his good hand, then looking at the mutilated metal of his severed artificial one.

"What he said," Cid added.

"It could've been much worse though," Nanaki said, before licking a bleeding paw.

Everyone nodded at that, then they noticed Cloud approaching them. He looked worse than any of the others, he had received some additional beating. He was limping, and the tip of the sword was scraping along the ground as he dragged it behind him, while heading straight for one of the group. Then without warning he leapt forward and attacked, bringing his sword down on one of his friends.

"VINCENT!!"

Vincent reacted just in time, managing to block the blow with his shotgun. He had a shocked and surprised look in his eyes. "Cloud?"

Cloud kept attacking with brutal strikes against the side of Vincent's gun, as he screamed. "YOU KNEW DIDN'T YOU?! YOU KNEW IT WAS SEPHIROTH, DIDN'T YOU?!"

"General!" Kim shouted. She ran up and grabbed his arms from behind and managed to hold him away from Vincent, until his friends came to help her hold him back.

Vincent still looked confused as he stared at the man who was struggling to break free of his friends to get at him. "Cloud I don't know what you're talking about. What does Sephiroth have to do with this?"

Cloud scowled hatefully. "Don't play dumb with me, Vincent! I know you know, and I'm sick of you hiding things from me! You should have told me, DAMMIT!!" All of the energy seemed to flow out of his body then, and he went limp and looked to the ground. "You should have told me... Ron was my brother."

Vincent hesitated, then stepped forward. "Listen Cloud I'm not hiding anything from you. What's this about Sephiroth?"

Cloud looked up curiously. He had calmed somewhat, his rage replaced my anguish. "You mean... You really didn't know?"

"No. Tell me."

He looked back towards the ground again. "He told me... The darkness couldn't break through. Even with Ron's resistance weakened when he used the power to save Kim. The darkness wasn't strong enough to wear Ron down... So Sephiroth helped it. It's not just Ron's darkside we're fighting... Its Sephiroth too."

Everyone went silent and stared in shock, especially Vincent.

"The darkness couldn't break through alone?" he gasped. "Even with Ron weakened? My God, Ron's spiritual power must have been unfathomable."

Cloud's friend's let him go, and he fell back to his knees. "Sephiroth has taken so much from me, and now the last of my family too? Its not fair. I never even..." He sighed. "I never even got the chance to treat him like a brother."

Kim placed a reassuring hand on her mentor's shoulder, then everyone noticed Alena approaching, carrying Bonnie in her arms. They all then turned when Vincent spoke again.

"If what you say is true, Cloud... If Sephiroth does indeed share a body with Ron. Then I think I know where they're going next."

This got everyone's attention. "Where?" Cloud asked.

"Well, there was only one person Professor Hojo ever considered a real friend. A fellow scientist who shared the same views and philosophies on science and progress."

"So pretty much this friend was a nut-job too?" Cid asked.

"Yes," Vincent confirmed. "Shelke recently found out that Hojo had a Will, and he left everything to his friend."

"Everything?" Cloud asked.

"All his equipment, research and... and samples."

Cloud went tense. "What kind of samples."

"The numerous samples included frozen Jenova cells and Sephiroth's DNA."

Cloud jumped to his feet. "And what exactly is this 'friend's' name?!"

XXXXX

"DRAKKEN!!"

Drakken shot up with fright and bumped his head on the metal arm of then robot he was working on. "Owie," he whined, rubbing his head. "Shego, what have we discussed about using your inside voice?"

"Yeah, well what have we discussed about staying out of my room, and not touching my stuff?!" she snapped, pointing at the workbench. "Is that my hairdryer I see lying there in pieces?!

He looked nervous now. "Well, I... er... I needed some additional components and I didn't think you'd miss it."

"Didn't think I'd miss it?!" she snapped. "I use that thing every single day, do you think my hair just naturally looks this good?!"

He thought on that for a moment. "Well... Can't you just steal a new one?"

"Oh maybe. If you didn't decide to make our new lair in a God forsaken cave in the middle of nowhere! There isn't a mall anywhere near here! Closest thing to civilization is that chocobo farm to the south, and I'd have to cross that smelly damn marsh just to get there!"

This is where Drakken's ADD kicked in and he changed the subject. "Oh, speaking of the marsh, did you take care of that giant snake?"

She waved her hand at him dismissively. "Yeah, no sweat. Toasted it good, it wont bother us again. But what are we going to do about my hair dryer?"

"Well, I am a genius you know. I could easily build you another one."

She frowned. "Use something you invent on my hair? I don't think so!"

He took offence at that. "I could make you the best hair dryer in the world! It could dry your hair ten times faster than that piece of junk!" he huffed, pointing to her old and disassembled dryer.

"Dry... and on fire... not the same thing, Dr D."

Drakken pouted. "Shego. Your words hurt."

"So sorry to interrupt you two and your oh so important and stimulating conversation," a new voice cut them off. "But I have business with Dr Drakken."

They turned to the figure shrouded in the shadows of the cave entrance, and Shego ignited her hands. "You're in the wrong place to be trespassing, pal!"

Drakken stood up straight and placed his hands behind his back, staring at their intruder with an arrogant expression. "Who are you?"

The figure snickered, as he stepped out of the shadows. "Still can't remember my name, huh?"

Drakken smiled evilly after seeing his face. "Ah! So its Kim Possible's new sidekick!"

Shego sighed in frustration. "No Dr D, that's the old sidekick."

The blue skinned man squinted at him. "Really. How do you tell them apart?"

With another sigh, she buried her face in her hands. "Maybe its the fact that the two of them, look NOTHING ALIKE?!"

After glancing at his sidekick, he returned his eyes to Ron. "Well, whatever. What do you want, buffoon?"

Drakken didn't even have time to blink, before Ron had moved from the cave entrance, to the other side of the cave where he was standing. He grabbed the scientist by the throat and lifted him from the ground. "Well for starters Drakken, I'm going to make sure that you never call me buffoon again."

Drakken gasped, and tried in vain to pull away the fingers constricting his throat then he turned his eyes to look at his shocked sidekick. "Shego," he wheezed. "Help!"

A powerful ball of plasma flew into the side of Ron's head, but it hit and dissipated like it was nothing more than and handful of feathers. It burned out and Ron didn't so much as flinch. His hair wasn't even singed. He turned and glared coldly at Shego.

She looked at him with shock, then looked down at the hand she had thrown the plasma with, as if to ask it why it hadn't worked. Then she looked back up into those cold terrifying eyes again. That's when she went with her survival instincts. She slowly hid the offending hand behind her back, and nervously looked off into distance, pretending that she didn't notice him.

With a cold smirk he turned back to Drakken and dropped him unceremoniously onto his behind. He looked up to Kim's sidekick with wide frightened eyes.

"You are in possession of something I want, Drakken," he said, coldly.

Drakken climbed to his feet and straightened out his lab coat, in a vain attempt to salvage his dignity. "And what exactly do I get should I decide to help you?"

Ron's smile sent a chill up the blue scientist's spine. "Well... You get to not be dead."

Swallowing hard, he turned to see if Shego was going to offer him any assistance. At that moment though, she seemed to have found something fascinating about her fingernails and was studying them closely. She was a tough lady, but she was smart enough to know when she was out of her league.

Drakken looked back to his assailant and smiled nervously. "Whatever you want, whatever you need, Dr Drakken is the mad scientist for you... uh... boss?"

His spine chilling smile widened. "Good. Then its time to get to work."

XXXXX

to be continued... 


	16. Chapter 15

Rebirth: Part 15

by Jawelik

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

For a few days Kim, Cloud and his gang all searched for Drakken, in hopes of tracking down Ron again. Much to Kim's chagrin though, Drakken had decided to be discreet for once, and had hidden his current lair very well. Not even Wade, with access to all of Shinra's technology was able to track him down yet. So they all decided the best course of action for now was to wait for Ron to show himself again. Because they all knew he would eventually.

They all chose the Shinra Military Academy as their base of operations. For the moment the place was closed, due to Cloud's decision to concentrate of the current batch of soldiers. He wanted to make sure they could handle things in the field, before he put too many resources into training new troops.

Now all of them were gathered in Cloud's sleeping quarters in the Academy. It was a surprisingly big room, though sparsely decorated. Cloud was never big on decorating his living spaces, and stuck mostly to the essentials. A medium sized bed, a desk with computer and lamp, and a couple of chairs.

Upon entering the room, Yuffie had crashed out on the bed like she owned the place. Cloud didn't care. Tifa and Vincent claimed the chairs, while Barret, Nanaki, Cid, Yori, Cloud and Kim all found places to sit on the floor. Cait Sith was still out of action after Ron had pulled the magically animated toy's head off. For now they could only wait for news of Ron sightings.

In one corner of the room Cloud and Kim sat side by side with identical postures. Backs pressed up against the wall, legs laying limply in front of them, and their eyes aimed forlornly towards the floor. Both of them looked absolutely miserable, and though Kim had tried her best to hide it from the others, her bloodshot eyes were more than enough proof that she had been crying.

Yuffie rolled over onto her side and frowned at the depressed looking pair. "Y'know, you two sad sacks really need to lighten up. Being moody isn't gonna help anyone."

Cloud gave Yuffie a mean scowl she didn't really deserve. "Shut up, Yuffie. You couldn't possibly understand what we're going through!"

By the look of the pout that appeared on Yuffie's face, it was clear that her feelings had been hurt. And deciding under the circumstances not to start an argument for a change, she rolled over and presented her back to the General and his protege.

Tifa sighed. "Cloud? Was that really necessary?"

He folded his arms defensively. "I'm not in the mood for her chipper attitude."

Tifa gestured towards the Ninja in question, who seemed to be in the middle of sulking. "Well you fixed that. I think you hurt her feelings.

Cloud looked at the back of Yuffie, then looked to the floor a little guilt shining in his eyes. He hadn't even noticed her reaction to his temper. "I... I'm sorry, Yuffie."

She rolled back over and looked at him. "S'Ok."

He sighed and looked up into her eyes. "I am in a bit of a bad mood."

"No kidding," she quipped.

That earned a slight smirk. "But I shouldn't take it out on you. It wasn't fair."

She snickered. "Hey, I said it was Ok. No need to all touchy feely and emotional on me. What's next, we all get up have a group hug, sing Kumbaya then eat pie? Give me a break!" She rolled back over again, but this time with slight smile on her face. Yuffie really liked Cloud, would even admit to looking up to him. So she really didn't like it when he snapped at her, especially when it was for no good reason.

Tifa was glad to have sorted that out. Last thing they needed was any tension or conflict within the group. Especially when taking into account what they were all up against.

"Look I know you and Kim are really down. Even more so than the rest of us. But maybe while we're waiting for something to come up, you can talk to us about it."

"I don't feel like it," Kim and Cloud both muttered. Kim was too depressed to even Jinx her mentor like she usually would.

Tifa walked up to them, then sat cross legged on the floor in front of them. "I know you two are alike in a lot of ways. You like to be independent and take on as much as you can alone. But these feelings aren't something you can deal with solo. They are one of the things you need friends for."

Both of them just frowned stubbornly at the brunette, and folded their arms.

She smiled reassuringly at them. "I know this kind of thing is hard for you, but you need to get this off your chests now. You need to talk about it. We can't afford to have anything affecting you next time we go into battle. You'll be no good to Ron that way."

Thier expressions softened at that, and Kim was the first one to try and speak. "I..." She hesitated.

"You go ahead Kim, you go first," Tifa urged. "You're surruounded by friends here, so don't worry and just speak your mind." The other's in the room all spoke up and agreed with that.

Kim nodded and looked nervously to the floor. "I... love him, you guys."

Tifa nodded. "I understand, Kim. None of us have known him as long as you, but he's made a place in all of our hearts."

"No that's not what I mean," she whispered. "I'm... IN love with him."

Everyone seemed surprised by that, and looked at the redhead to continue.

"I think I've always been in love with him without knowing it. All these years calling him just a friend." Tears started to well up in her eyes, which she rubbed with the back of her hand. "Why? Why did it take something like this to make me realize? It's not fair!"

Cloud placed a hand on her shoulder, and she spun around and hugged him, burying her face in his chest and crying. Once upon a time Cloud wouldn't have know what to do with the distraught girl, but now he didn't hesitate to hug her. Comforting Kim just seemed natural to him.

"I think I understand how you feel, Kim," he whispered to the still crying girl. "He's the only blood family I have left. And even before I knew that, I was proud to be one of his friends. It's not fair that it took this to make me realize that."

Pulling her face from his chest, she looked up into her mentor's mako eyes. "I'm scared... that we won't be able to get him back."

He looked back at her seriously. "We'll get him back."

"Yeah!" Barret cut in. "No way we're gonna let our buddy down!"

"Right on!" Yuffie cheered in agreement, up on her knees and bouncing up and down excitedly on the bed.

"And you know what?" Cloud said, his expression becoming hard. "When it really comes down to it, this is all Sephiroth's fault. We take him out, we get Ron back."

Kim didn't look entirely convinced. "What about Ron's darkside?"

"We'll get him too," Cloud said, showing some of his old confidence.

"Yeah!" Yuffie cheered again. "No one has more experience kicking Sephiroth's can than we do!"

Kim looked to the others in the group, and smiled softly as the all voiced their agreement. They helped Kim to think that maybe just maybe things would work out.

"We'll get him back, Kim," Tifa assured.

Kim nodded. "I know he's still in there. I could feel it when..." She hesitated there, and touched her lips when she remembered the kiss she had shared with him. She wasn't sure if she should tell the others about that. "I could feel it."

Tifa turned and looked to the rest of the group. Yori seemed to be the only one who had been quiet, and did not seem especially happy. No one knew that she had witnessed the kiss between Kim and Ron.

"So," the brunette said. "You all prepared to do whatever it takes to save Ron?"

Everyone answered with a curt nod.

"Tifa?"

She turned when Kim called her name. "Yeah?"

"Do you have a pen and paper? There's something I wanna right down."

She walked over to Cloud's desk, found the requested items and handed them to the red head.

Kim thanked her, took the pad and pen, and sat down in the corner of the room and quietly started writing. Everyone felt ready now. Ready to take on Sephiroth and save Ron.

XXXXX

In his lair, Dr Drakken worked diligently at a large metal console. Attached to it were two vials with blood in them, and cables that linked to a nearby incubation chamber. The two vials contained DNA that Drakken was currently working on combining. The first one was an old sample of Sephiroth's DNA that he'd had on ice among many of his other samples, and the other was a more recent acquisition. Blood Given to him by Ron himself. His skin had been so hard to penetrate, that Ron had to use the Lotus blade on himself to allow Drakken to take the blood.

He continued the typing, but paused when he heard yet another explosion from a distant corner of the cave's lair. Shego was blasting at her targets with her plasma again, and making one hell of a ruckus. She had been training a lot lately, and Drakken had been finding the noise very distracting. But after being beaten up by his glamorous sidekick five separate times for telling her to keep the noise down, he had finally learned not to disturb her while she was practicing.

While she was alternating between beating on her punching bag, and launching green fireballs at the wooden dummies she had scattered throughout her training area, Ron came up behind her.

"Practicing hard, are we?"

She turned from her punching bag and looked him up and down with an intrigued look in her eyes. "Yeah... Trying out a new look, Stoppable?"

Ron looked down at his new outfit. It was a tightly fitting leather bodysuit, with numerous straps buckles and zippers. The costume showed off a surprisingly powerful and well muscled physique. He had also slicked back his usually messy blonde hair. "Yeah. What do you think?"

She looked him up and down again, with scrutiny this time, then slowly nodded. "Not bad. Not bad at all... I'd lose the glasses, though."

Pulling the mirrored shades away from his eyes, he glanced at them briefly before crushing them in his hand. Then he looked back at Shego with those softly glowing ice mako eyes. "Good call."

She shrugged nonchalantly then turned back and started beating on her punching bag again. But she hadn't been able to get into it before Ron spoke again.

"You're training harder than usual, aren't you?"

He hesitated then turned to look at him with a cold scowl. "What makes you say that?"

"Well I just figured, that after Kim handed you your own ass on a silver platter the last time you fought..."

"Watch it, Stoppable!" she snapped, lighting up her hands. Shego had discovered early on that she was scared of this new bad Ron Stoppable. Would even admit to being down right terrified of him. But when it came to her, sometimes her pride and temper overwhelmed her common sense.

"Ooh, looks like I hit a nerve huh? You've been beaten by her before, but never that bad, have you?"

Her fists clenched, and she shook with rage. If it was anyone else attacking her pride like this, she would just beat them silly. But that wasn't an option here. Angry as she was, she knew when she was outmatched.

"Don't be that way, Shego," he cooed, with false affection. "If more power is what you want, maybe I can help."

Her rage subsided in favor of curiosity. "Help? And what exactly would you ask in return for this help?"

"Oh I have need of nothing you can provide, Shego. I offer my help, simply because I feel it will amuse me."

She frowned. "Amuse you, huh? So what kinda help are we talking here?"

With a sinister smirk, he reached out and grabbed her shoulders. Shego was struggling almost immediately, and he pulled her close.

"Hey, what do you think-MMPH?!"

She was completely and utterly flabbergasted when he pressed his lips up against hers, and she just went with her instincts. She lit up her hands and started scratching at him with them, but to no avail. That didn't stop her from struggling. She may be out of her league, she may even be scared of the guy, but no one forced ANYTHING on her! Especially something like a kiss!

She gasped into the kiss when the most incredible energy started flowing into her from where their lips joined. She could feel power spreading throughout her body and supercharging her every cell. Then after a few moments of this he released her shoulders and she recoiled backward. Then with a snarl, she fed as much lethal energy as she could in her palms, but was quite startled when she did.

Standing there with her fingers curled, she looked at the green fire that burned much brighter and hotter than it ever had before. She could feel that her powers had grown substantially, and not only this, it wasn't tiring her in the slightest. Usually turning her powers up high caused her a great amount of fatigue. But she found this easy as breathing.

Looking at her intensely burning green flames, she could only think of saying one thing. "... Woah..."

Ron smiled evilly. "Not bad, huh? Go ahead and give it a go."

She glared at him, and her first instinct was to try out every ounce of her newly enhanced power on him. But she somehow doubted that he would give her enough power to hurt him, so she turned her attention to one of her targeting dummies. They were made of a special material that was very durable, and it usually took her a while to break one. But this time a single ball of green flame was enough to reduce one down to a small pile of cinders.

Raising an eyebrow, she kicked things into overdrive, and sent out a steady stream from each hand, and turned her body bathing every one of her targets in a shower of emerald fire as she turned. In seconds they were nothing but ash, and much of the cave's wall and floor had been turned from cold rock to molten magma.

She looked at her now smoking hand and smiled. "Oh yes. This works."

"Glad you like it," Ron said.

She frowned at the powerful teen. "Was the kiss really necessary?"

He smiled. "Not at all. I've just always wanted to do it."

Shego had come to understand that this wasn't the Ron Stoppable she had always known, but some kind of evil other personality. With a little Sephiroth mixed in for good measure. His comment made her raise a curious eyebrow.

"Which one of you always wanted to do it?" she asked, as he turned to walk away. "You... Or the other Ron?"

He stopped, and turned to look at her with a sideways glance. "Oh, both of us. Me and the weakling both find you ludicrously hot. The only difference is I have the guts to do something about it." With a final smirk he turned and walked away, leaving behind a somber Shego.

As she watched his back while he walked away, she couldn't help but start thinking. This Ron may have had the guts to kiss her. But the other Ron... She doubted very much, even if he had the guts, that he would ever force it on her like this bad boy had.

She didn't like anything forced on her, never had. She was a free spirit, if anything. So she decided right then and there, even though she would often claim to like bad boys, she didn't like this new Ron. Part of her actually missed the old one.

XXXXX

Drakken as always, put everything he had into his latest project. Ever since he was a little boy, science was his favorite thing. He would even admit to the enjoying the process of building his weapons of doom, more than he did using and ranting about them. And this latest project, even though it had been forced on him, he was enjoying the mental challenge it was giving him immensely. It was delightfully technical, combining the DNA from two different specimens.

"How's it coming?" Ron asked, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

Drakken jumped in fright, and almost fell over. "As if Shego doing it wasn't bad enough, don't sneak up on me like that!"

The scowl he had prepared never made it to his face, because the moment he saw his new employer's wide insane looking eyes, he was instantly cowed. Ron apparently did not like being yelled at.

Drakken lowered his eyes, and shuffled his feet nervously. There was something about this boy, who's name escaped him. Like he could force fear into Drakken's very soul just by looking into his eyes. "I... er... So sorry for snapping, I... I'm easily startled, you see..."

He cautiously looked up to see if his life were about to end, and felt relief when he saw him smiling. He reassuringly patted him on the shoulder. "No big, Dr D. So long as you're doing as I asked we won't have any problems."

He nodded meekly. "Oh yes, I've been working very diligently, um... er... sir?"

He frowned again. "Still can't remember my name?"

"Oh... er... Of course I remember your name!" he laughed nervously, sensing danger in those mako eyes again. "I just... just think its disrespectful to call my, erm, employer anything but sir! Heh."

Not buying it, he folded his arms and continued to scowl. "Say... my... name... SAY IT!!"

Drakken was shaking so hard his knees were knocking. Never had he so wished he could remember his name, it had just never seemed that important in the past. Now though it seemed like a difference between life and death.

"I... erm... umm..."

Mako eyes narrowed to slits. "I'm waiting."

"Cough-Stoppable-cough!" Shego cut in, coming up behind Ron.

"STOPABLE!!" Drakken shouted. "That's it, your name is Stoppable, I knew that! I told you I knew that, its R... Ron! Ron Stoppable! That's who you are!"

Ron raised an eyebrow, then turned and frowned at Shego who just smiled innocently.

"What?" she asked. "I had something in my throat, and that's how I cough. Cough-Stoppable-cough!"

Shaking his head, he turned back to Drakken. "Well... As I asked earlier, how's it coming?"

The blue skinned scientist stared blankly. "How's what coming?"

Frowning again, Ron gestured sharply to the console the good doctor had been working at for the past couple of hours. Drakken glanced at the station, back to Ron, then to the station again, before he finally figured out what Ron was referring to.

"Oh, the clone! Right, of course, what else would you be referring to?" he chuckled nervously.

Ron didn't seem the least bit amused. "Well?"

Drakken jumped slightly, before turning to his console to resume typing. "Well it was tricky at first. This clone is for Sephiroth, correct?"

"I think I explained that to you about a dozen times."

"And you want the new body to possess your more advanced abilities?"

"Yes Drakken, I do," he said irritably. "So can you do it or not?"

"Oh, yes. It was tricky at first, but I finally figured something out. The clone will be mostly of you Mr... um..."

"Cough-Stoppable-cough!"

"Mr Stoppable! With a few minor, and mainly cosmetic alterations to make it appear like Sephiroth."

"So it's basically a copy of me, with Sephiroth's face and hair? Sounds kinda wrongsick."

"No, no Mr Stoppable, nothing quite that crude, I assure you. I had to tinker with the DNA a little for Sephiroth's unique body structure. You know my records state that he was nearly 4 inches taller than you? Also had to make alterations for skin pigment, blood type and various other factors."

Ron nodded, and finally smiled. "Very thorough, Dr D. I'm impressed."

Drakken smiled, but before he could say anything, Shego cut in. "Please don't stroke his ego, or you'll never shut him up."

Drakken pouted childishly at that, but said nothing.

"Ok, so how long until the body is ready?" Ron asked.

Drakken typed some more, and did a few quick calculations. "Well the with the genetic alterations done, and in record time I might add," he bragged, "All that's left is inserting the new material into the incubation chamber, and growing the specimen."

"That doesn't answer my question, Drakken. How long?"

Ron's tone caused him to tense up with fright, and he hurriedly typed out some more. "Um... Taking into account the complexity of the resulting lifeform... and factors such as nutrition and neural stimulation... Anywhere from three to five weeks!"

Ron folded his arms. "Not good enough. Sephiroth and I are displeased."

Drakken was shaking again. "I... erm... good things take time?"

Ron stepped in close, and backed the frightened scientist up against his console. "Look at it from our perspective, Dr D. On one hand we have Sephiroth, locked up in my mind with very little to do. And on the other hand there's me. With a silver haired PSYCHO stuck inside my head!"

He lashed out and grabbed the front of the doctor's coat, lifting him up until his feet were dangling above the floor. "Don't you get it?! He's IN MY HEAD!!" Still holding him in one hand, he pointed sharply at his temple to emphasize. "He's in there and he wont shut up! And I can't get him out!" This is where Ron started shaking the terrified blue man. "He won't leave unless he chooses too, and the only way he will choose to is with a new body! You see where I'm coming from, Doctor?!"

Doctor Drakken stared, then shrugged. "I'm not sure if..."

Ron held up a finger, cutting him off, then gently lowered him to the ground. He carefully straitened up the doctor's coat, then leaned in close and patted him on the cheek. "Let me elaborate a little, Dr D. If I have to spend 3 to 5 weeks with this guy cooped up in my head, I'm gonna go totally crazy... And looking around your lab, I can see sooo many fun and interesting looking toys. Toys a crazy person could use to hurt you. A lot. Are you following me so far?

Shaking harder than ever, Drakken nodded his head, and started stammering. "I... I..."

"Come on Dr D." Shego cut in. "There's gotta be some way to speed things along. Think!"

Drakken looked at Shego, and could almost see concern in his sidekick's emerald eyes. That actually calmed him ever so slightly, which was just enough clear his fear fogged brain. "Actually..."

Ron smiled. "Yes?"

"Shinra's SciTech Division have just finished a new genetic sequencer. With that plugged into my computer the time reduction would be substantial!"

"How substantial?"

"It will turn three weeks into three days."

Ron smiled. "That's what I'm talkin' about Dr D!" he cheered, giving him a friendly punch in the shoulder. "I knew you would think of something."

"Ow," he whined under his breath as he rubbed his shoulder. "I actually would have sent Shego to steal it already, but SciTech's security is so good, not even she could get inside."

Ron smiled. "Maybe not before. But now?" He turned to look at Shego. "Feel like a little field trip to test out your new powers?"

She smiled, back. "A little smash and grab at the worlds most secure facility? I may be interested. If you sweeten the deal."

Ron shrugged. "You know, we'll probably run into Kim if we go. And I know you've been wanting a rematch."

Her smile fell, and her expression became more serious. "Okay, Stoppable, you've sold me. I'm in."

He turned towards the cave entrance, with the green skinned woman in tow. "We'll be right back, Drakken."

XXXXX

Bonnie stood calmly inside a large metal warehouse, that had broken brick walls and small rooms and structures scattered throughout. It looked like a small ghost town had been built inside the warehouse. Her arms at her sides, and a silvery metal pistol in each hand, she just stood and waited.

All of a sudden, a robot with a human shape and build, which was made entirely of shiny black metal, ran out from behind one of the walls and aimed at her with a Shinra issue machine gun. Within a blink of an eye though, Bonnie lifted her right arm and fired off a single armour piercing round. Before the robot could even squeeze its trigger, the bullet hit it squarely between the eyes, and it reacted to the damage just as a human would. It fell over backwards and died instantly.

She only had time to smirk smugly, before seven more identical black robots emerged from their hiding places all around her and started firing at her from all directions. Leaping high into the air, none of the bullets came close to touching her. Then spinning and twisting as she flew, she fired off several more shots from each of her pistols. Every single bullet met their mark, into a vital area of each one of the seven robots that had attacked her. Two more between the eyes, 3 directly in the heart and just for the hell of it she severed a few major arteries in the last two, that caused them to bleed out and collapse within moments.

Landing back on the ground and watched her robotic enemies collapse around her. Eight enemies down and not a bullet wasted. She took pride in never wasting ammo. These robots were good too, programmed to react to damage just like a human opponent would, allowing Bonnie to use her considerable knowledge of anatomy to her advantage.

Spinning quickly, she fired of three more super armor piercing rounds in three different directions, and 3 more robots around her fell. Then another eight ran out through the doorway of a small brick structure, these ones clustered into a close formation as they all aimed at her. Without even having to think about it, Bonnie lifted one of her guns, and flicked the switch on the back of it. This loaded a different kind of bullet into her chamber, which she fired into the chest of the Robot closest to the middle of their formation.

The tiny explosive round, made a surprisingly massive explosion, which took out all eight in one go. She smiled at that. Shinra made some nice bullets, as well as guns, but she hadn't even broken a sweat yet. That's when she called out to the empty warehouse.

"Computer. Raise difficulty from level four, to eight."

A digital woman's voice replied, and echoed throughout the warehouse. "Confirmed. Level eight training program initiated."

From there 24 more robots ran out from hiding places all around her, behind walls, inside small houses, smashing through wooden doors, and all targeted her. With the higher difficulty, came not only greater numbers, but better AI which gave them better team work. Smiling now, Bonnie flicked the switch on both of her guns, loading yet another new cartridge into them.

Spinning around she fired off several rounds into the ground all around her, which all exploded and within moments the entire warehouse was filled with smoke. As the the robots all tumbled around in confusion from the smokescreen, Bonnie used a combination of her hearing, and her memory of where all her enemies had been standing to start shooting all of them down. Through training she had learned to target the head of an enemy without even having to see it. She used a number of techniques employed by some more gifted blind people.

With the higher difficulty though, the robots were also given an environment advantage. The AI detecting the smokescreen, activated the powerful air vents which quickly cleared the smoke from throughout the warehouse. It wasn't cleared fast enough though, and much to Bonnie's satisfaction she saw that every robot lay dead. Instinctively knowing that she only had a few super armor piercers left in each gun, she dropped the clips that held that particular round, and attached the guns to the reloading mechanisms she had attached to either side of her belt. With a mechanical click, she was fully loaded again within a number of seconds.

Knowing now with their numbers so greatly reduced the robots were going to take a more stealthy approach, Bonnie stalked cautiously down the road of the training area. Spinning quickly, she fired off a round at a robot that appeared in a window on the second floor of a building with a sniper rifle. It was more than 40 yards away, and yet again she landed a shot square between the eyes.

Two more robots tried and failed to sneak up on her, earning nothing more than a bullet in the the heart each. Still stalking, Bonnie detected more movement, and spun around and lifted both pistols to aim. She didn't fire though, when she she saw that this was a robot made of white metal, that was carrying a small baby sized bundle in its arms and shaking with fear.

Bonnie lowered her guns slowly, but lifted them when another black robot grabbed the civilian bot from behind and lifted a handgun to the side of its head. Before it could even get its finger on the trigger though. Bonnie had fired her gun, missed the robot with the baby my millimeters and hit its captor in the face.

The robot fell over backwards, and the white mother-bot stumbled away frightened, to take cover somewhere out of sight. Bonnie really had to give the guys at Sci-Tech some credit, these robots all behaved so human like, her training was like in real combat conditions.

Turning again, Bonnie lifted her gun to another Robot that had appeared from behind a wall, but before she could pull her trigger its head exploded and its body tumbled lifelessly to the ground. Raising a curious eyebrow, she turned to the right and saw what had happened. Standing off in the distance, with a now smoking shotgun resting upon his shoulder was her boss. Rufus Shinra.

"Sir!"

She started to walk towards him, and he had that genuinely friendly smile on his face he only seemed to reserve for his Turks. As Bonnie approached, she pointed her gun backwards over her shoulder, and shot yet another robot right in the eye without even having to look.

"Computer, pause training program," she called out.

"Confirmed," the computer voice replied.

Rufus nodded as she approached him. "Very impressive, Bonnie. I've read your files, and seen your scores in the firearms training, but none of it does you justice. That was an absolutely extraordinary performance."

She blushed slightly. "Thank you, sir. How long were you watching?"

"I've been here the whole time."

She was surprised at that. "Really? I didn't even notice you. You must have some serious stealth skills."

He shrugged. "I may have the Turks to protect me, but it doesn't hurt to know how to defend myself. You know, just in case."

She nodded, impressed by his attitude. She was proud to call a man like this her leader. Not only intelligent and wealthy, but strong too. Truly powerful. At this thought she started to eye the shotgun resting on his shoulder. Her well trained eye recognized it as a purely custom job, and from what she could tell it probably had some serious recoil. Rufus would have to be extremely strong to fire it one handed the way he did.

"Nice gun," she commented with a nod. "And in my professional opinion, sir, I must say you definitely know how to use it."

His smile widened. "Coming from you, Bonnie? That means a lot."

She found herself blushing again. Guys had never made her blush before, she had always been way too confident. They had never been much more to her than a status symbol. Eye candy. Breaking up never bothered her in the slightest, unless it was the guy breaking up with her, and not the other way around.

There was something different about Rufus, though. It wasn't just that he was always so nice to her, or the fact that he was rich and powerful. It wasn't even the fact that he was so handsome, she sometimes found herself tempted to pounce on him like a hungry lioness on a gazelle. It was the fact that for the first time in her life, even if it was just a little bit, Bonnie felt she was out of her league.

For as long as she could remember, no matter who the guy was, he wasn't good enough for her. But Rufus, was not only good enough, he may well be too good. And her strong attraction to him was a big problem for her, because she liked to think of herself as a professional, and professionals definitely did not pursue their boss. It just wasn't done.

Stepping towards her, his expression softened a little. "Now Bonnie, are you sure you should be training so vigorously? I heard about your wound being reopened." He looked at her stomach with genuine concern shining in his eyes. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

His concern for her was so touching, she just wanted to start cuddling him. She had to keep mentally reminding herself over and over again that sexually harassing her boss was bad! She was a professional!

"It's fine sir. The doctor said the nanites still had more than enough charge left to heal me a second time. It's barely hurt at all since I was stabbed."

He nodded at that. "Good. I need all my Turks in tip top shape at all times, hear me?"

She smiled and nodded back. "Yes sir."

Rufus opened his long white coat and stowed his gun away in it, and Bonnie did the same with her pistols. "You know Bonnie, I've heard that one of the only side effects of those nanites, is they make you hungry. Is it true?"

"Yeah actually. I'm totally ravenous now that you mention it."

He showed her one of those charming smiles he often did when talking to her. She didn't know if he intended to show so much charm or not, but either way it gave her butterflies every time. "Then I must insist that you join me for dinner. I have one of the worlds finest chefs under my employ. I'm sure he could fix something to satisfy that appetite."

Now she was blushing again, dammit. More than a year out of high school, and now ironically enough, for the first time in her life she felt like a love sick school girl. She really shouldn't accept though. She was a professional. But if she went anywhere that resembled a date with this totally scrumptious guy, she was likely to lose control of herself and be all over him. She should make an excuse, something work related, then go home and satisfy her appetite with some instant ramen noodles. Yeah, that's what she would do.

"I'd love to have dinner with you sir," she replied, gleefully. Stupid traitorous mouth!

"Great," he said, with a pleased smile. Just then his cell phone rang, and he pulled it from his coat, opened it and placed it to his ear. "Yes? ... Tseng? ... Is that so? Well go and investigate. Make sure you're prepared... Yes, take everyone. Bonnie's right in front of me now, I'll send her to meet you there."

He snapped his phone shut, and looked apologetically to his newest Turk. "I'm sorry Bonnie, but duty calls it seems. Someone has attacked our primary Sci-Tech Facility in Edge."

She was surprised. "Really? Who would be dumb enough to do that? The security in that place is crazy."

"Whoever it is, is actually breaking through. So they either know what they're doing and have inside info, or they have enough power to just force their way in."

Bonnie paused, and tried to hide her fear as she swallowed hard. "And one of the only people I know of with that kind of power is... Ron..." Bonnie stifled a shudder. Something terrified her greatly about Ron. He was someone she could never possibly hope to defeat, who hated her with a passion. But not only that, those eyes of his seemed to transmit fear itself right into her. And that fear didn't go away. But she wouldn't let it show in front of her boss.

"Yes. Now you are to meet the rest of the Turks at Sci-Tech. Stop off in the armory on the way and grab anything you want to take with you."

She nodded, and headed to the door. "Yes sir."

"Oh, and Bonnie?"

She turned and looked at her smiling employer.

"Rain check on dinner, ok?"

She smiled back, and felt those butterflies again. "I look forward to it, sir."

XXXXX

Cloud and his group still sat in his room waiting. The mood had improved a little and a few of them were actually chatting now. Many of them had funny stories about times spent with Ron, which they were sharing, when Cloud's cell phone rang.

Pulling it from his back pocket, he snapped it open and answered it. "Yeah? ... What is it, Tseng? ..." He paused. "Sci-Tech, huh? Ok, we'll be there." He snapped the phone shut, then stood up. "Ok everyone, we're moving out."

Kim stood up and looked hopefully at her mentor. "Is it Ron?"

Cloud looked back at her. "Not sure. Someone's cutting their way through Sci-Tech security like its not even there. And it would take someone really powerful to do that. So the chances of it being him are pretty good."

Kim nodded. "Ok. Let's go then."

Everyone stood up and followed Cloud through the door.

XXXXX

When Kim and the gang arrived at the entrance to Sci-Tech's main building they found Bonnie waiting there for them. Then as soon as they arrived, a sleek black sedan pulled up, and the rest of the Turks got out, Reno from the drivers seat. The two guards that had been posted at the door were out cold with evidence of burns on their skin. The main door that had been sealed using some of the most advanced encryption technology, and a near indestructible metal seemed to have been melted open.

Yuffie stepped ahead of the others, then knelt down and checked the vitals on the guards. "They're alive."

Kim felt relieved. That meant so far, Ron hadn't actually killed anyone yet.

Tseng walked up to Cloud and nodded to him. "So. Do we have a plan of attack, General? The President has placed the Turks under your full command. For now."

Cloud nodded, then thought about it. But before he could say anything, Kim spoke.

"Sir? If I can make a suggestion?"

"Of course, Kim. What is it?"

She lowered her eyes. "We've tried the whole brute force, strength in numbers approach already. I want to go in there alone, and see if I can get through to him. I know our Ron is still in there!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow but before he could say anything, Reno laughed meanly.

"Red, that is without a doubt THE dumbest suggestion I have ever-OW!!" He turned to look who had kicked him in the shin, and was surprised by who it was. "Bonnie?!"

"I think we should let her try," Bonnie said. "Kim's right, the brute force approach has been tried already. It would be stupid to try the exact same tactic again, when there are other options. I'm with Kim on this one."

Alena looked at Bonnie curiously. "You are?"

"Seriously?" Kim asked.

Bonnie nodded. "Look, I know I've never made any secret of the fact that I didn't like you or Ron. But when it comes right down to it I know that the old Ron..." She looked into Kim's eyes, then placed her hand over her closed up stab wound. "YOUR Ron, would never in a million years do something like this to me. Or anyone. If Kim thinks she can bring him back, and get rid of that psycho, I say we let her try."

Tseng glanced back at his team's newest member. "Are you sure about this, Bonnie?"

She nodded, and he nodded back. "Fine. Then that plan has the Turk's backing."

Kim looked back up to Cloud. "So will you let me try?"

He sighed at his protege. "Well... It's definitely a plan, Kim... But what if he hurts you? Sending you in there with no back up, I really don't think..."

"He doesn't want to hurt me," Kim cut him off. "He told me that himself. But he doesn't have any such compunctions about hurting any of you." She looked up pleadingly into Cloud's eyes. "Please, sir... Cloud... Let me try?"

Cloud paused. Kim hardly ever called him by his first name, and NEVER when she was on duty. Even though the two of them were quite close, she had always been quite formal towards him. He knew when she called him Cloud that she was serious about something.

He nodded reluctantly. "Fine. Go in, and the rest of us will cover the exit." She turned to walk in through the decimated main door, but Cloud grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. "You are to keep in constant radio contact with us! If we lose contact with you, Kim, we are coming in after you. You hear me?"

She nodded. "Yes sir."

He looked at her, with a look of worry in his blue mako eyes. "Okay then. Don't hesitate to call if you need help." With that, Kim turned again, and ran into the under siege building alone.

"Be careful, Kim," Cloud whispered under his breath.

XXXXX

to be continued...

Yay, another chapter done. I got the itch to write after one of my favorite stories was updated recently, after being left alone for more than 6 months. If you haven't read wierdbard's story Partners in Crime, then I definitely recommend it. Unless of course you are adverse to any lemony scenes. There are a few of those. Drop the guy a review too, that usually helps keep me motivated to update sooner rather than later.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. Leave me a review, and I'll get on to the next part ASAP.

-Jawelik


	17. Chapter 16

Rebirth: Part 15

by Jawelik

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Two kids that didn't appear much older than 12 years old stood side by side at a workbench, in a lab on the top most floor of Shinra's most secure building. Sci-Tech. Both of them, despite their ages, were the top minds Shinra had. One was a pretty young brunette girl, with an almost perpetual expression of disinterest on her face. Her name was Shelke Rui. The other was a young, slightly chubby black boy named Wade Lode.

The two of them had been assigned to do yet another project together, which would have been fine if they didn't get on each other's nerves. And getting on Shelke's nerves was quite an accomplishment, being as she was usually so calm an collected. Wade seemed to have a talent for it though. And right now the two of them of them were arguing yet again.

Wade and Shelke both held a a pair of tweezers each, and in each one was a similar looking metal chip. Only Shelke's shined blue and Wade's was silvery. He moved to put his component into their project, but Shelke slapped his hand.

"Ow! Shelke, what's the big idea?!"

She looked coldly at her colleague, and admitted rival. "I've already told you multiple times," she said, holding up her tweezers. "This superconductor holds more charge than that one. It is a better choice for this device."

"It may hold slightly more electricity than mine, but its too fragile, Shelke! This is a weapon, and it needs to be durable! Reliable! Mine is better!"

"Our orders were to increase the charge. Mine holds a 17.5 percent greater charge than yours. It is the logical choice."

"Yeah, if you want it to stop working the moment someone drops it!" Wade scoffed. "Yours loses 45.21 percent of its density at room temperature! But mine is more than durable enough for combat conditions!"

"We weren't instructed to increase the durability," she argued, calmly.

"We were asked to reduce it, either!" he snapped back.

Shelke pursed her lips and felt the vein in her forehead start to pulse. She never used to lose her temper before meeting Wade. Still, she'd never found someone who could keep up with her intellectually either.

"Look, Shelke. My super conductor will increase the charge of the previous one by more than 72 percent..."

"And mine will increase it by nearly 90!" she shot back.

"Gahhh!" he cried, grabbing two handfuls of hair, and attempting to pull it out in frustration. "Why do you always have to be so... Gah! Grrrr, aaaaargh!"

She folded her arms and frowned at him. "You should really start listening to me, Wade. I am smarter than you after all."

This earned her an angry scowl, and he pointed an accusing finger at her. "Lets get one thing straight, right now, Shelke! A single point in the Shinra IQ test does NOT make you smarter than me!"

She smirked. One of the few things in the world that could put a smirk on her usually emotionless face, was having something to hold over Wade. "Mathematically speaking, Wade, one IQ point does make me smarter then you."

Again he was growling incoherently and trying to tear out his hair, then he shook an angry finger at her. "Yooouuu... just HAD to play the 'math-card,' didn't you?!"

Her smirk, widened ever so slightly. Wade, a scientist to his core, could never argue with the math. What neither of them had noticed during the argument though, was what was going on at the other side of a sound-proof glass screen behind them. Two people had broken down the locked stair doors, and a beautiful green skinned woman wearing a green and black cat suit had started hurling the dozen guards on that floor around. Her companion however just stood back and watched.

Shelke nodded smugly, then moved to put her superconductor into their project. "Well, now that that's settled..."

Wade placed his hand between her tweezers and the project, before she could insert the small chip of metal. "It is not settled! One IQ point or not, it does not make you right!"

She put on another expression she had learned since meeting Wade. A scowl. "I say it does!" she snapped, both of them still oblivious to the elite soldiers guarding their floor being mauled on the other side of the glass wall just behind them.

"Then you would be wrong! As usual!"

"WADE!!" she snapped, finally losing her usually perpetual composure. "Stop being childish, so we can finish this!"

"I'm not childish!" he yelled back. "You're childish!!"

For the first time since Shelke could remember, she felt her inner bratty child boiling to the surface, and she could do nothing to stop it. Clenching her fists at her sides, she stomped her foot hard on the ground. "I AM NOT!!"

"Are too!"

She shook her head hard, the inner brat now in total control of the usually cold and collected girl. "Nah-uh!!"

"Yah-huh!!"

The two certified super-geniuses were on the verge of the most childish argument imaginable, but were cut off when they were startled. The super strong glass behind them shattered when the green skinned woman jumped through it like is wasn't there, then looked evilly upon the two children.

"Ding, top floor! Pathetically weak guards, science geeks and genetic... whatevers!"

Both looked up at the intruder and spoke simultaneously "Shego!"

Wade turned to look at Shelke. "You know Shego?"

She just nodded, and Shego raised an eyebrow. "Now nerdlinger, I know. But you, cupcake..." She squatted down to get a better look at the young girl's face, and her sneer gave way to a look of shock when she recognized her. "... Shelke?"

The young girl looked calmly into those emerald eyes. "Hello Shego."

XXXXX

Shego looked at Shelke with wide eyes, like she was looking at a ghost. "My God... It is you... You haven't aged a day."

Shelke just stared silently for now.

The green woman allowed her usual arrogant smirk to return to her face. "So. What's the secret to keeping your youthful good looks?"

She stared a little longer, before answering it. "Excruciatingly painful mako treatments, and a significant reduction in life span."

"Oooh, sounds nasty. Think I'd rather age gracefully."

Wade looked curiously from Shego and then to Shelke. "Okay what's going on? How do you know Shego?"

Shelke looked at Wade. "Have you heard of Deepground?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think I read something about that. One of Shinra's darker projects from back in the day. They caused a bit of a ruckus a little while ago didn't they? Some guy called Valentine took them down?"

"Yes. Vincent Valentine. And I imagine you also read of the Tsviets?"

"Yeah," he said, as he looked back to what he'd learned a while back while hacking some top secret Shinra information. "They were Deepground's most elite." He started counting off on his fingers. "There was Azul the Cerulean. Rosso the Crimson... Um... Shelke! Shelke the..." He froze and looked at her. "You're Shelke the Transparent?"

She nodded.

"But... But the files said you were older, you would have to be..."

"Twenty years of age," she finished for him. "I will be twenty one next month."

He was shocked. But after a few moments he looked to the green woman. "O...kaaaay. But how does Shego fit in?"

"The Tsviets were made up mostly of gifted children who were kidnapped and experimented on by Shinra's Scientists. Shego and I were two of those children."

"But there was nothing about her in the files," he commented.

"No. Because Shego escaped Deepground, one year after being captured. She is the only one who ever escaped. She was to be one of the Tsviets though. Shego the Emerald."

Shego looked down into the deceptively young looking girl's eyes. "Are you... angry at me? For not taking you with me?"

Shelke thought on that. She remembered when she was just a scared little girl, and she found out her only friend had escaped and left her all alone. She had been very angry at first. But now she shook her head. "No, Shego. I doubt you would have managed the escape with me slowing you down."

"So sorry to interrupt this oh so touching reunion, but I think you're forgetting something, Shego."

Everyone turned to see Ron walk in through the decimated glass wall, wearing his new leather biker outfit. "Ron!" Wade gasped, before his expression turned cold. "No. Not Ron. Sephiroth."

He smiled at the boy. "A little of both, actually."

"Not my friend," he shot back.

He snickered. "No. That weakling is definitely not here."

"Ron is not..."

"Yeah, whatever!" Ron cut him off. "You have something I want! Where is the new Genetic Sequencer?"

Wade was confused by this. "What do you want that for?"

"That's none of your concern, Wade. You just need to tell me where it is."

Wade scowled. "And if I don't?"

Ron just smiled confidently, and drew the glowing red Lotus Blade from the sheath attached to his back. Wade saw the death threats coming, but was ready to stand strong. He was pretty sure he'd rather die that help this... thing... that had possessed his friend.

"If you don't tell me, Wade," he whispered menacingly as he slowly lowered his sword and placed the edge to the side of Shelke's neck. "Heads will roll."

Wade and surprisingly Shego both looked worried by this. Shelke just looked up into Ron's eyes, with that usual look of calm on her face. With a sigh, Wade pointed to the right. "There's a safe camouflaged in the wall over there. The sequencer is the black one, about the size of a cigarette box."

Ron smiled. "Shego? If you would be so kind?"

She walked to the white painted wall, and ran her hands over it then tapped it with her knuckles for a few seconds. Then pressing the wall in a certain spot a small square door popped out with a hiss, then slid to the side, revealing a black metal safe with a number pad on the side of the door."

Sending a worried glance to Shelke, who still had the blade against her neck, Wade sighed. "The combination to open the safe is..."

He paused when he heard the sound of Shego firing up her powers. She dug her fingers into the metal of the safe, and tore the door away like it was made of paper mache. Then she started searching through the safe, carelessly throwing other items Wade and Shelke had invented over her shoulder, until she found what she was searching for. She held up the black cigarette box-looking device. "This it?"

Wade nodded sadly. "Yeah... That's it."

Shego started walking back, and Ron smiled. "Thank you, Wade." Lifting his sword slowly, he laughed when he started to bring it down hard on Shelke's head.

"Stoppable, NO!!" Shego gasped.

"Shelke!!" Wade cried worriedly.

A loud clang resounded throughout the room, and Ron looked surprised by what stopped him. A magical transparent barrier now covered both Wade and Shelke completely. It was a large glass like dome that had a honeycomb design all over it, which glowed with rainbow energy. He eyed Shelke who held up a large glowing green orb, as she stared coldly back at him.

"That's some nice protect materia, you have there," he snickered, taking a few half hearted swings at the barrier, which flashed every time he hit it. "A magic barrier of that level could probably protect you from almost anything... I'm pretty sure I can break it though." He made a few more swings, as Shego looked on worriedly.

Snickering evilly, he sheathed his sword. "But why bother. Its actually kind of cute, Wade. You and your girlfriend protecting each other."

Both of them blushed furiously and yelled at the same time.

"She is NOT my girlfriend!"  
"I am NOT his girlfriend!"

He turned and started walking away. "Let's go Shego. Catch ya later, lovebirds."

Seeming to have calmed down now, Shego giggled at her old friend's embarrassment as she followed Ron out.

The two young scientists waited until the invaders had entered the stair well, and they were sure they were gone before Shelke lowered her shield. Both of them sighed with relief.

"Thanks Shelke," Wade said sincerely. "You really saved our butts."

She nodded. "Thank you to you too."

He stared blankly. "For what?"

"Looking out for me."

He hesitated at that, but then smiled warmly. "You don't have to thank me for that. Its what friends do."

"We're... Friends?" she asked, curiously.

"Sure. I mean just because we disagree a lot, and argue all the time doesn't mean we're not friends. We may not always see eye to eye, Shelke, but you can count on me if you need me."

Those words actually meant more to Shelke than Wade realized. Because she had learned after being rescued from the Tsviets by Vincent that she didn't ever want to let down people who were counting on her. It was nice to know she had someone new who she could count on.

"You can count on me too, Wade." His smile was wider and warmer than hers, but he was more prone to smiling, so her smaller smile had just as much feeling in it.

They stood awkwardly for a while after their little moment, then Wade tried to break the tension a little. "So... uh... twenty one next month, huh?"

She nodded.

"Well... Is there anything in particular you want for your birthday?"

Shelke looked at him curiously. She couldn't remember anyone ever asking her that. "No... Not that I can think of."

Wade shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I'll get you something... Wait a minute!"

"What?"

"That means... You're eight years older than me..."

"And?"

He smiled wickedly. "And you're only one IQ point higher?"

Again she pursed her lips and felt that angry vein in her forehead start to throb. She pointed at him angrily. "Don't you start!"

He barely stifled a laugh, but looked at her with a wide, good natured smile. It took a while, but Shelke then smiled back. When it came to things like emotion for her, it was often hard. Almost cryptic. Up until now she had seen Wade as a colleague, a rival, and more often than not a pain in the butt. Yet somehow, without her even noticing, he had become her friend somewhere along the way too. And she was happy with that. She hadn't noticed before, but she often found their arguments to be invigorating. Almost enjoyable. He was the only one she felt comfortable acting like a kid around from time to time.

When she returned her attention to him, she found him with a pair of tweezers in each hand. One held her superconductor, the the other held his. He was curiously looking from one to the other.

"Are you still going to argue with me about this?" she asked.

"No, actually. I was just thinking..."

She tilted her head curiously to the side. "About?"

"Well... These are two of the latest superconductors is development, right?"

"Right," she agreed.

"But I'm thinking... The two of us... We're pretty smart, right?"

She considered making a comment about being smarter than him, but decided against it for now. "Right."

"So if the two of us, put our heads together. Don't you think we could design a new superconductor, which holds a greater charge than this," he held up Shelke's tweezers, "and is even stronger than this?" He held up his own.

Lowering her eyes for a moment as she thought on that, she looked back up and nodded. "Yes. Easily."

Smiling he tossed the two pairs of tweezers back over his shoulders. "Lets get to work then... Old lady." He started laughing.

Shelke smiled at that. "Don't make me hurt you. Little boy."

Both smiling now, they got to work on their new project. The two of them did some of their best work on the rare occasions they saw eye to eye on something, and worked towards a common goal. Already forgetting about the invasion, the two lost themselves in their work as they often did.

Meanwhile, downstairs, a certain red head did not have the luxury of such distractions.

XXXXX

Kim stalked cautiously into the darkened building. The lights all around had been smashed, so Kim was sure to keep all her senses alert to any dangers in the surrounding shadows.

Turning the corner, she gasped when she found one of her fellow soldiers lying sprawled out on the ground in the middle of the hall. She was actually one of Kim's friends from High School, who had come to serve in the military. She had been one of the more gifted students, but actually had very little combat experience when she first arrived at the Academy, and had started out Ranked as low as Ron was. But through a lot of hard training and more than a little natural talent, she had actually scored a spot on SOLDIER upon graduation. Third Class.

Kim had heard that she had been made the leader of one of the squads of Elite troops assigned to guard the Sci-Tech building. She had also heard that she was very good at her job. Her and her squad were one of the main reasons that this building had been close to impregnable. To see her friend and comrade lying on the ground now worried Kim terribly.

She ran up and knelt down next to the fallen soldier, and checked her vitals. Her black Shinra helmet had been knocked off, leaving her long wavy blond hair spread out on the ground around her head. Kim was relieved to find a pulse.

"Tara? Tara, are you okay?"

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked dazedly at her friend. "Kim?"

"Tara, what happened?"

She blinked some more, and seemed really confused. Kim guessed that she might have a concussion. "We tried to stop them, Kim... But she was so strong..."

"She?" Kim asked.

"The green woman... with the fire."

"Shego? Shego's here? What about Ron? Was he with her?"

"That can't have been Ron... Ron wouldn't laugh at us like that, he'd help. Not just sit by and watch. Not Ron."

Kim looked sadly at her friend. Tara always had a fondness for Ron. One of the few girls on the squad back home who would actually give him the time of day. Her disbelief was understandable.

Tara's eyes went wide as she seemed to realize something. "My troops! Are they ok?! Are... are my guys... ok...?"

From there she passed out. Kim sighed sadly. Cloud had not given Tara her rank just for her fighting abilities. She had shown early on in her training that she had a gift for tactics and leadership. But most importantly, Tara had a strong sense of protectiveness and loyalty to anyone put under her command. And that earned her the same respect and loyalty from her troops. She had shown that in the group training exercises back at the Academy. She didn't deserve this.

Kim stood and realized that now that her eyes had adjusted more to the darkness, that Tara wasn't the only one sprawled out on the floor. There were a dozen of Tara's troops lying there too. Kim knew she had to check to see if they were all ok, but she also wanted to find Ron as soon as possible. If he was with Shego, it meant Vincent's theory was probably right. He was trying to make a body for Sephiroth.

Sephiroth and Ron in one body was bad enough. The last thing they needed was two of them.

That's when she remembered one of the Shinra gadgets she had which she hadn't had the chance to use yet. Pulling what appeared to be a normal pair of sunglasses from her belt, she slipped them on and the lenses glowed softly green. The night vision function quickly eliminated the darkness, then she tapped a few buttons on the side of them, and she started to see advanced readouts in front of her eyes, as the glasses scanned everything she looked at. It gave detailed data on the injuries of the soldiers when she looked at them.

Surprisingly enough all the soldiers on the floor were alive. Several had broken bones, some blunt force trauma, and all of them suffered from plasma burns. But all of them had strong heart beats, and didn't seem to be in any immediate danger of death.

She pressed the transmitter in her ear as she entered the stair well, and heard the voice of her commander upon doing so. "Report," Cloud ordered.

"I've come across some injured guards, all of them out cold. But none are in any danger of dying. Whoever beat them up went out of their way to avoid killing them."

"So Ron's pulling his punches?" Cloud asked, as Kim climbed the stairs.

"No, according to Tara, Shego's with him. If I'm interpreting what she said correctly, Shego was doing all the fighting, while Ron just stood back and laughed."

There was a moment of silence from Cloud. "Okay, I'll admit that Shego woman showed some skill. May have been able to even fight Tara to a standstill, but her whole squad? No one runs a squad like that girl, I doubt even you could pull that off on your own. Shego shouldn't have stood a chance."

"I know, sir. But Tara said something about her being really strong before passing out. Something majorly weird is going on..."

"Oh, you have no idea how weird things are, Princess," a voice cut in, stopping her from ascending the stairs. She looked up and found Ron and Shego both standing side by side, further up the stairs.

"Ron! Shego!"

"Hey Kim," Ron sneered. "I had a feeling I'd run into you... Where are the others?"

"They're outside. I wanted to come in here alone so we could talk."

Ron smiled. "Well that sounds nice. But first, I promised Shego a shot at you if we ran into each other while we were here. And you know I always keep my promises."

Shego smiled evilly, and stepped out in front of Ron and started to descend the stairs towards the red head, igniting her hands. "It's time for round two, pumpkin. And its not going to be nearly as easy as round one."

Kim scowled hatefully at the woman standing in her way. "I'm not here to fight, Shego! I'm here to talk to Ron! I don't have time for you!"

This made Shego scowl right back, and the green flame engulfing her hands started to burn even brighter. Drawing her hands back she threw a massive fireball at the red head and screamed. "Then you better MAKE TIME!!"

Kim jumped back and the fireball hit the stairs she had just been standing on and exploded. When the smoke cleared, she saw that a large chunk of the stairwell had been decimated, leaving a considerable chasm. Shego leapt over the chasm and at Kim, her burning hands outstretched.

Kim moved so fast that the daggers on her belt seemed to teleport themselves from their clips and into her hands, grunting with effort as she intercepted Shego's claws. With her claws held back by Kim's daggers, Shego smiled, and started to push forward. Kim was shocked that not only were her feet sliding backwards along the floor, but Shego was pushing her back with an apparent minimum of effort.

Kim gritted her teeth as she put even more effort into holding her nemesis back, but to not avail. Shego chuckled evilly at that.

"What's the matter, Kimmie? Not as strong as you thought you were?"

Pulling her weapons away, she jumped back, propelled off one wall, the ran sideways along another. Somersaulting off that wall she landed on her feet further up the stairs from Shego with a look of curiosity. "What's happened to you, Shego? You're different."

"That's right, I'm different!" she yelled, leaping up at her with her claws outstretched again. "And stronger than you could ever hope to be!"

Rather than intercepting the claws this time she leapt out of the way, and grabbed onto the banister further up, with her feet pressed against the side of the stairs. She looked suspiciously upon her opponent from her higher vantage point.

"What's happened, Shego? Did Ron do something to you?"

Shego sent a powerful stream of her fire at Kim, which she was again forced to avoid by jumping higher up the stairwell. The resulting explosion took out yet another section to the stairs. "Stoppable just gave me a little power boost. Nice, huh?"

Kim looked at Shego wide eyed, then looked down at Ron, who had his arms folded and was looking up at her. The malevolence in his smirk was all the confirmation she needed. She looked at Shego again. "You got power from Ron?! Shego, that is not something anyone should be messing with, look what its done to-AGH!!"

She was cut off by yet another fireball, which didn't miss her entirely when she moved to avoid it, but winged her arm. She fell about a storey, before landing on her feet near where she'd started out. Near the first chasm Shego had blown into the stairs.

"I don't need your lectures, Possible! All I need is for you to fight me!" she yelled, a little insanity in her voice. "Come on, Kim! Show me how strong you are this time! Show me how much better you are than me now! SHOW ME!!" She threw more fire, and Kim avoided it at the last moment, by jumping back and running vertically up the wall.

Shego pursued up the opposite wall, and gained quickly. The two of them started on about the third floor of the stairwell, but at the speeds they were running up the stairwell walls, it wasn't long before they were nearing the top, nearly 30 storeys up.

Both Shego and Kim leaped of the walls they were climbing and clashed with each other in mid air, then started slashing at each other constantly as the fell back down the way they'd come. At about the fifteenth floor Kim and Shego Both blasted each other, Shego with her powers, and Kim with fire magic conjured with the materia in one of her daggers. The resulting explosion blasted both of them through the walls, and onto the fifteenth floor.

It appeared to be some kind of office area, with hundreds of small cubicles packed together in the place. Fortunately though the whole floor seemed to be evacuated. Kim hauled herself to her feet, aching all over, and thankful for her magic resistant Shinra armor. She heard Shego yell, and turned to see her charging again. She didn't seem to have been hurt in the slightest in the explosion like Kim had.

Kim kept to her evasive tactics, jumping around the more expansive area, while Shego chased her and blasted through a number of cubicles as she attempted to catch her. Kim waited until she managed to get behind her enemy before she struck, casting an ice spell with the materia in the other dagger, she blasted Shego with a stream of frost before she could react.

Landing from her aerial magic attack, Kim sighed with relief as she watched her enemy. Encased from the neck down in a block of ice, struggling and growling angrily. Kim turned and found Ron staring and smiling. He had followed them onto the floor to continue watching their fight.

"Ron," she said as she approached him. "Please talk to me..."

Without a word, Ron's smile widened and he pointed to something behind her. Turning around she saw Shego's whole body glowing with emerald light from within her prison, as the ice started to steam and melt.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Kim muttered.

With a ferocious roar, Shego jerked her arms outward and shattered the ice from around her, then she looked at Kim with wide insane eyes. "You really thought it would be that easy, Kim?! Even without the power boost, my body gives off a lot more body heat than most! The cold doesn't bother me!"

Kim frowned, and raised her daggers again.

"It's about time I really turned things up! I think its time to really let loose with my new power!"

Kim raised an eyebrow. She had been holding back? That wasn't good, and it was the second time that ploy had been used against her. Looked like Shego had taken a page out of Ron's book.

They charged at each other again, but Kim was shocked when Shego blurred and vanished from her view. Kim didn't even have a second to wonder what had happened, before she was hit hard from behind in the lower back, and sent flying across the floor.

She rolled and bounced across the floor, like a stone skipping across water, then shattered through several wooden cubicles. She wound up sprawled out in the remains of a shattered computer terminal, groaning in discomfort. Then she looked up at the sounds of evil laughter and scowled at Shego who was standing over her.

"Not so tough now, are you, Princess?"

Kim hauled herself uneasily to her feet, tightly gripping the handles of her daggers. "I don't want to fight you, Shego! I just want to talk to Ron!"

Shego pouted mockingly. "Aw, am I keeping you from your sidekick?" Again she started laughing evilly. "Too bad! You wanna talk to him, you have to get through me! And that ain't gonna happen!"

Her fists clenched tighter than ever around her weapon handles now, and her knuckles started to turn white. She had never liked Shego, but up until this moment she had never hated her. In truth, she had never hated anyone. Hate was a very strong word. But she was keeping her from Ron! Keeping her from helping him! And now she was more angry than she could ever remember being. She hated Shego so much!

"You bitch!" she hissed.

Still smiling, Shego raised an eyebrow. Kim, if anything, had always been a really good girl. And she was never known to swear. "Kimmie, such language!"

The red head charged forward and started making ultra fast swipes with her blades. "Get OUT OF MY WAY!!"

Every time Shego blocked one of Kim's blows with her glowing hands, green sparks flew. She easily parried several attacks, then knocked Kim away with a backhand to the face.

Kim wasn't deterred though. She flew back, rolled over backwards and back to her feet, then charged in again and resumed her assault. This continued for a while. They would exchange blows, Shego would knock her back, and Kim would get right back on her feet again and charge in. Shego was enjoying the fight at first, but she soon started to frown.

She was hitting Kim pretty hard, punching her into cubicles and throwing her into walls. Most warriors would be out cold by now, or at the very least lying on the ground unable to move. But Kim just kept on coming. Jumping to her feet immediately every time she was knocked down, and propelling herself off walls she was thrown into. Every time she charged back and attacked Shego like a girl possessed.

And even though she acted as if the attacks weren't affecting her, Shego could tell that they were. Kim's face was badly swollen and bleeding, and the blood was flowing heavily from her nose, but she just kept on coming at her with just as much strength and aggression as when the battle started. If not more.

Shego just parried Kim's numerous attacks this time, and frowned at her. "You don't quit, do you? Why don't you just face the fact that you can't beat me and lose already?!"

Kim's attacks started to get stronger and faster. "Get out of my way, Shego!!" she screamed. "I won't let you keep me from Ron, I WON'T!!"

Shego was getting angry too now. She was hitting Kim really hard, she shouldn't even be standing now, let along fighting this hard. There's no way Kim could be this strong, NO WAY!!

Her eyes went wide as saucers when Kim's knee was lifted hard into her stomach. She was so shocked that the red head actually managed to hit her, she froze, which allowed Kim to hit her several more times, alternating between strikes with the blades and butts of her daggers.

Shego had several cuts in the front of her jump suit that blood was seeping from, and her face was already starting to swell from being hit multiple times in the face with Kim's dagger handles. Before Kim could get off any more attacks though, Shego blasted her back with a powerful stream of her plasma, which knocked her into the wall. Then she stared at the red head with wide eyes, and Kim didn't run back in this time, just stared back breathing hard.

The green skinned woman raised her hand to her assaulted face as she stared confused at her nemesis. "You... actually hurt me... I'm twenty times stronger than I was before, you..." Her face contorted into a hateful scowl. "You shouldn't even be able to TOUCH ME!!"

Her fists clenched to her sides, her whole body lit up with green plasma, as she shook with rage. "There's no way you can be that strong, Possible! Its not..." She stomped her foot, and her whole body burst into a green inferno in reaction to her rage. "ITS NOT FAIR!! YOU'RE NOT THAT MUCH STRONGER THAN ME, YOU'RE NOT!!"

Kim stared, looking a little confused by her opponent's rant. This wasn't like her.

"You're not going to beat me again, Kim," she hissed, as she raised both her hands above her head and gathered a massive ball of intensely burning green fire above them. "Not again... NEVER AGAIN!! I'M GOING TO FINISH THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!!"

The fireball she threw was huge, and was guaranteed to make sure Kim didn't get up and start attacking again. In truth there was more than enough power in it to reduce ten Kim Possible's to ashes, and Shego knew there was no way she was going to avoid it. Kim was as good as dead.

XXXXX

The fireball flew at her with the force of a speeding truck, and Kim knew for a fact she was not going to be able to dodge it. Her injuries had finally started to take their toll. Was she about to die?

At the last second a shadow blurred in front of her, and stopped the burning plasma ball in its tracks. With a single hand, Ron held the ball, then with not so much as a grunt of effort he tossed it to the side, and sent it flying into a wall of windows. The energy exploded magnificently taking out all the windows on not only their floor, but the adjacent floors too. The blast also took out more than half of the remaining cubicles.

Kim watched as Ron stepped towards a shocked looking Shego, then backhanded her hard across the face, sending her falling to the floor.

"I said you could fight her, Shego," he said calmly. "But nobody kills her."

She looked up into his eyes, seeming a little confused, the she lowered her gaze towards the floor and remained silent.

Ron then turned and smiled at Kim. "So, KP. Do I get a thank you?"

Kim limped right up to him, and looked pleadingly up into his eyes. "Please Ron. Lets talk."

He nodded. "Sure, Kim. That sounds nice. But first..." He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, then the other across her cheek, and he palms started to glow red against her skin. She felt the familiar tingle of healing magic flow throughout her body, repairing cracked and broken bones, and her burnt bleeding flesh. This was some of the strongest healing magic she'd even seen, and she felt good as new in moments.

He smiled fondly at her, though he still failed to hide the coldness from his eyes. They still lacked any of her guy's warmth. "There... All better."

She was conflicted now. This wasn't her Ron, this was a twisted evil freak. But he had not only saved her life, he had healed wounds that probably would have taken a shot of those nasty nanites to heal otherwise. No normal healing magic could do what Ron had done so easily. So tiwsted evil freak or not, Kim had to say something.

"Um... Thanks..."

"Anything for you, Kim."

She looked seriously up into his eyes. "If you really mean that, then let go of the darkness, and give me my Ron back."

His smile remained, but he shook his head. "Anything but that."

She reached up and gently took his face between her hands, looking up into those ice cold mako eyes. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she willingly allowed him to pull her close.

"Please Ron. I know you're in there. Fight it, I know you can!"

"Nice try, Kim," he whispered. "But its not going to happen."

Kim ignored that and kept pleading. "Please Ron, I want you back. I miss you, I... I love you! I love you so much... Please come back to me. Please!"

His smile fell and he looked down at her with an intense look of concentration, then he leaned in for a kiss. Kim tilted her head to receive it, but hesitated when she concentrated on the look in his eyes. There wasn't a trace of that warmth there that she had missed so much. This time this was all bad Ron, her guy wasn't present. So she started to struggle.

"No! Let go!"

He paused. "What's wrong, Kim?"

She was struggling hard now against the impossible strength of the arms around his waist. "Let me go! You're not him, don't touch me!"

After a moment of hesitation he released her, and she jumped back, like she had just been hugging a foul smelling slime monster. "Hmph. Playing hard to get, huh?"

She frowned angrily at him. "Give him back!"

"I've told you Kim, we both love you. But he had his chance. You're all mine now."

He turned and started walking towards the decimated area the wall of windows used to be. "Later Kim."

"Wait," she whispered.

He stopped and looked sidelong at her. "What?"

"If you love me as much as you claim... Why are you hurting the people I care about?"

He smiled, then started chuckling darkly. "Because you shouldn't care about them."

She looked at him as if he was crazy... Which he was. "What?"

"You're better than them Kim. Every last one of them. They're so far beneath you its not funny."

"That's not true!" she snapped.

"Oh, you'll see. When you reach your true potential, you'll crush every last one of those people you care about beneath your boot heel. Like the insects they are."

Kim couldn't believe what she was hearing. This guy had to be truly psychotic if he believed what he was saying. She watched as he turned and continued to walk away and then called out to him again.

"I promise you one thing. I'll never become what you want me to be... Never."

He stopped walking for a moment, then kept on going. "Lets go, Shego."

Shego stood up from where she was still sitting on the floor, then followed Ron. He walked up to the large gaping opening that led outside and jumped out, off the fifteenth floor and fell towards the ground. Shego followed suit, leaving Kim all alone.

She tapped the communicator in her ear and sniffed sadly. "Sir?"

"Kim?!" Cloud gasped. "Are you okay?! What was that explosion?!"

"I'm fine sir... But I failed. I tried my best, but I couldn't get through to him. He and Shego are on their way down now. Be careful."

"Will do, Kim. Meet us down here, okay?"

"Ten four, sir."

XXXXX

Right after signing off with Kim, Cloud and all the others guarding the entrance heard a thunderous crash. Ron and Shego had landed on their feet behind them, cracking the pavement but not seeming remotely fazed by the fifteen story drop they had just taken. All present drew their weapons and scowled at the pair.

Ron smiled at them, then eyed Cloud. Shego stood behind him though, looking somber. Maybe even a little frightened for some reason.

"You guys aren't actually going to try and stop me, are you?" Ron chuckled. "I think we all know how that will turn out."

"Well we're not just going to let you go, Sephiroth!" Cloud shot back. "What was it you wanted here anyway?"

Ron shook his head, still smiling. "Sorry, no time for chit chat, bro."

"Don't call me that!!" Cloud snapped.

"Okay Cloud. I'm leaving anyway."

"You're not going anywhere!"

Ron looked around at all the elite Shinra agents surrounding him, then his gaze rested on Bonnie. Swallowing hard, the brunette took an involuntary step back, and Ron's evil smile widened. "Before I go though, I might have a little more fun with poor frightened little Bonbon."

She paled, but was surprised when all four of her colleagues from the Turks stepped protectively in front of her. And surprisingly enough it was the usually quiet Rude who spoke first.

"I don't think so."

"That's right, Stoppable," Tseng said coldly. "You mess with one Turk, you mess with all of us."

"Yeah, you didn't think we were gonna let you get away with hurting one of ours, did you?" Reno added. "You're gonna pay."

"One way or another the Turks always get their own back," Alena finished. "You can count on it."

Ron raised a curious eyebrow, then ever so slowly he started to chuckle under his breath. The chuckle increased in volume until finally he threw his head back and laughed hard, in that slightly deeper and creepier new voice of his. Then he again looked right into the frightened brunette's eyes.

"Well, well, well. For the first time in her life, Bonbon's actually made some true friends." He lowered his eyes and chuckled a little more, then looked at her again with the most malevolent smile she had ever seen. "I am so going to enjoy taking them all away from you."

Her fear seemed to melt away at that, and she glared hatefully at him. One of her pistols was drawn in less than a second and she had fired off a round, aimed straight between his eyes. Ron's hand moved faster than anyone could follow and caught the super armor piercer without even blinking.

"Nice piece you've got there, Bonbon. That one actually tickled."

"Enough of this!" Cloud snapped, pointing his sword at his possessed brother. "You and Shego are both coming with us!"

Ron shook his head, then placed his hand on Shego's shoulder. "I don't have time for this." All of a sudden both of them blurred out of sight, and everyone started looking around.

"Where did he go?!" Reno snapped.

"Over there!" Elena said, pointing down the road behind them. He and Shego were a good distance away walking away from them.

"Don't let them get away!" Cloud shouted, as he ran towards the pair. "After them!"

Everyone obeyed and started chasing, but Ron turned calmly to Shego with that cold smirk of his. "Cover our exit, would you?"

Still looking somber and a little confused, Shego just nodded and turned to the pursuing Shinra agents. Holding her arms out to her sides her whole body started to glow, but most of her energy gathered at her hands. The energy grew steadily until she looked like the had two small burning emerald suns engulfing each hand.

Then bringing her hands down hard onto the road, digging her claws into the black top, the pursuers were bought to a sudden halt when a massive wall of green flame erupted up from the road in front of them all, and cut them off completely. The wall of fire quickly grew to more than a hundred feet high, and surrounded all of them.

"Woah," Yuffie gasped in awe. "That there is one big wall o' fire..."

"No kidding," Tifa quipped.

Cloud walked up to the intensely burning barrier, and glared at it, as if that was enough to make it go away. Then he heard a voice from the other side.

"Hey, Cloud!" Ron called. "One last thing before I go."

Cloud made no reply, just silently listened.

"If you want another shot at me, meet me up North... I'll be waiting there, big brother."

"When?" Cloud asked.

There was a moment of silence, then his reply. "You'll know when the time comes."

Cloud stood silently for a while staring at the burning wall, then turned and quietly walked back towards the Sci-Tech building. As he approached with the others in tow he saw Kim exit out the front door, and run towards him. "Sir! Is everyone okay?"

Cloud nodded curtly. "Yeah. He didn't seem interested in fighting this time."

"Good," Kim said, in relief. "I'll call a med team for the guards inside."

Cloud turned when he heard Tseng calling out behind him. "General! The barrier's burning out, should we pursue?

He shook his head. "No. He's too fast, we have no hope of catching him."

Tseng looked at him curiously. "If he's so fast, why bother with the whole fire wall thing at all?"

Kim answered that question. "I think hes showing off."

Everyone was silent for a moment, then it was Bonnie's turn to ask a question. "Um... General Cloud, sir?"

He looked at her emotionlessly. "Yes?"

"Ron said to meet him up north... Isn't that a little vague?"

"No," he replied simply. "I know where he means."

Kim looked at her mentor curiously. "Where?"

"The first place we defeated Sephiroth. The place where his mother Jenova crashed into the planet thousands of years ago."

Tifa walked up next to him and nodded seriously. "The Northern Crater."

XXXXX

Ron walked into Drakken's cave lair, with Shego behind him. She still had her eyes to the ground, with a slightly confused and somber look on her face. Ron turned to her and smiled evilly. "Is something wrong, Shego?"

She looked up into his eyes coldly. She could tell by the way he asked that question and by the smug look on his face that he knew there was something wrong. "What... did you do to me?" she hissed.

He put his hands up behind his head, looking even more smug than before. "Whatever do you mean, Shego?"

"You know what I mean!" she snapped, angrily. "I tried to kill her, Stoppable!! I tried to kill Kim!!"

He didn't lose his smirk. "And?"

She gritted her teeth angrily. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm no murderer!! I'm a professional mercenary! What the hell did you do to me?!"

Lowering his eyes, he started to laugh under his breath. "I used my power to increase the energy output of every cell in your body. A simple power boost, nothing more."

"But..."

He held up his hand, and cut off her question. "If you want to know why you tried to kill her, its because you wanted to."

"No!" she snapped. "That's a lie!"

"Come on, Shego. Think about it. Ever since she kicked your ass so easily on her first Shinra mission, you've been dwelling on it endlessly. Training hard, refusing to acknowledge how much stronger she is than you. That rage you felt when you tried to kill her, the rage driven by your feelings of jealousy an inadequacy? That had nothing to do with me... That was all you."

She looked frightened now, and shook her head. "No... That's not true. You're lying."

He laughed at her under his breath at her, then turned and walked away from her. "Believe what you want."

He left her looking to the floor with fear in her eyes, shaking her head and muttering that she wasn't a killer. He approached Drakken who was again working at his console, but turned to greet him.

"Ah, Ron Stoppable. I assume you were successful?"

Ron smiled and held up the small black box. "Like taking candy from a baby, Doc."

Drakken took the device like a kid who had been given the latest toy on the market and couldn't wait to play with it. "Excellent," he giggled, as he turned and plugged it into a slot in his console. He typed a little, and he smile became even more gleeful. "My, my, this is an impressive piece of equipment. It far surpasses my expectations."

"What does that mean," Ron asked.

"With this plugged into my computer, the efficiency of my cloning vat has multiplied. Your new clone shouldn't take more than a day. Even I have to admit that whoever invented this sequencer is a scientist of much merit."

Ron started laughing again. "Excellent. That's great news," he said patting Drakken on the back.

"Are you sure you don't need any help transferring Sephiroth's mind into the body once it's grown?"

"No, Dr D. Sephiroth and I have that covered. You will have those other things I asked about ready on time though, won't you."

Drakken waved a dismissive hand. "Oh yes, easily. When compared to the clone task, putting together some new armour for Sephiroth, and infusing a chunk of metal with mako was too easy. I can have that all done within the hour."

"Well done, Drakken. Very well done."

He beamed proudly at the all too rare praise. "It really was no problem for a genius of my caliber. Perhaps once you are free of Sephiroth I can continue to... to..." He trailed off and looked around. "Where's Shego? This is generally her cue to start smart mouthing me..."

"Oh don't worry about her Dr D. She just has a few things to think about. You just worry about finishing that body."

Drakken spotted his assistant sitting at the far end of the cave with her back against the wall. She looked depressed. He stared worriedly for a few moments, then decided to return to his work. He knew better than to disturb her when she was moody anyway.

Ron meanwhile walked away, but paused when he heard a voice behind him. "Why do you still care for that weakling, Stoppable? Explain it to me."

He turned and saw a transparent ghostly image of Sephiroth standing behind him. "What weakling would that be?"

Sephiroth frowned. "The red head. Why is it that she is the only one you protect from me?"

Ron smiled. "Because, Sephiroth, she is stronger than you know."

"Ridiculous," he scoffed. "Maybe for a human, she's strong. But when compared to the likes of us..."

"Trust me, Sephiroth," Ron cut him off. "One of these days your gonna find yourself looking into those big beautiful green eyes of hers, and you're gonna see an equal... A threat."

They stared at each other for a few moments after that, before Sephiroth turned and walked away, his ghostly visage fading from sight. Ron just stared in the direction he's vanished in, then sighed.

"I can't wait to be rid of that guy."

XXXXX

to be continued...

Next time. Sephiroth is reborn. and this is where things start to go really bad. 


	18. Chapter 17

Rebirth: Part 16

by Jawelik

The experiment was done. Sephiroth's new body was completed, and floating in a large glass incubation tube full of transparent fluid. Drakken had used nanites it the fluid to construct a pair of baggy black pants, which was the only thing the lifeless looking clone was wearing. Drakken would say he ran a PG13 lab after all.

Ron had Drakken help to fasten him to the wall with super strong metal braces around his wrists, ankles and waist. Said he didn't want to 'convulse too much during his trance' or something. He was only wearing his strapped and buckeled biker pants.

Drakken and Shego both watched from the other side of the lab, Drakken standing straight with his hands behind his back, while Shego stood at his side hugging herself in a very defensive un-Shego-like manner.

From his place mounted on the wall, Ron closed his eyes and started to take long deep breaths. His breaths gradually became shorter and faster, until he started to look like he was hyperventilating. Then with sudden, long ,wheezing exhalation of air, he slumped forward lifelessly in his bonds and stopped breathing entirely.

He just hung there motionless for a number of minutes, and Drakken and his sidekick glanced at each other, a little confused. It might be a relief if the evil freak just up and died on them, but it would also be awfully anti-climactic.

They both gasped with fright when Ron screamed suddenly and threw back his head as a cloud of appeared to be gaseous black and white mako burst out of his chest. It flowed out of him and floated in a beeline towards the incubator. The dark cloud stopped just outside the glass and slowly started to circle the clone, like it was examining it. Meanwhile, Shego and Drakken were both noticing the cloud taking a distictive shape.

A head with a stream of long black and white hair flowing behind it. It circled the tube a few more times then the ghostly visage turned to the two observers and smiled. It was a smile that could freeze the blood in their veins. And the pair of icy mako blue eyes were colder still. The handsome, fine featured face, framed with white and black hair, slowly turned towards the tube, then flew in suddenly. Passing through the glass and fluid and into the chest of it's new shell.

From the moment the soul entered, the body started to convulse wildly in its tube for a few moments, then went limp and motionless. After a few more minutes of silence Drakken and Shego glanced at each other again, then back at the clone. Just in time to be startled again by that arctic smile and eyes. This time from a living flesh and blood Sephiroth.

The silver haired man started to clench his fists and tense his muscles as he started to glow bright white from within his incubator. On pure instinct, Shego jumped in front of Drakken and erected a shield of green energy in front of herself, mere moments before the incubator exploded in a brilliant display of of white light. Thousands of shards of reinforced glass flew in all directions,but any that would have hit Shego or her boss were vaporized by her powerful defense.

When the onslaught was over, She lowered her shield and watched as the white smoke from the explosion started to clear. And there standing in a crater where his icubator once stood, was Sephiroth. Looking at his hands, turning them over and back again, before clenching and unclenching them experimentally. Then he looked up at his two observers with a smirk and started to approach them.

Both of them took a few involuntary steps back, and were relieved when diverted his course away from them and to the side, where Drakken had hung Sephiroth's new clothes on the wall. The mako infused metal he had requested was placed on a nearby workbench.

Sephiroth took the glowing blue block, which started to glow red like Ron's Lotus Blade the moment he touched it. With a sudden flash of light and a burst of black smoke, the block extended out into a sword that was longer than he was tall. It glowed red for a few moments more before fading and turning the colour of polished reflective silver.

A single experimental downwards slash of his new sword kicked up a gust of wind that nearly knocked Shego off her feet. He placed the back of his long blade against his shoulder, then approached Ron who still hung from the wall, seemingly unconscious.

"It's time to wake up partner," he snickered coldly. Ron's eyes started to open, blinked a few times then looked down at the newly reborn Sephiroth. Then those eyes shot wide as the silver haired man thrust the end of his sword into his 'partner's' heart, and deep into the rock wall behind him.

"NO!" Shego screamed.

Ron coughed up a mouthful of blood, and looked at his murderer with wide eyes. "S... Sephiroth!" he wheezed, hatefully.

"I am sorry, Ronald," he said, without a hint of sincerity. "There is only room for one God on Gaia. But don't despair." He twisted his sword, making Ron grunt as he further mutilated his heart and crunched the rock wall behind him. "Soon you, and everyone else on this world will be part of me. When I become one with not only the darkness, but all the energy flowing through this planet."

Ron the last of his life energy into his hateful glare, before the light started to fade from his eyes, then slowly his eyes closed and he fell limp and lifeless in his bonds. Sephiroth pulled his sword from Ron's chest then started to walk towards Drakken and Shego. Shego had tears running down her face, and Drakken was shivering with fright. He, like her wasn't a killer.

"Y... You killed him. Oh, God, you killed him!"

"Indeed," he replied coldly. "And the fool never saw it coming."

With a snarl, Shego lit up her hand and swung her claws at his face. Quicker than the eye could follow, he caught her wrist in a crushing grip. She gasped, as the pain caused her concentration to waver and the emerald flames to dissipate from her fingers.

"Oh please," he scoffed. "You didn't seriously think that would work, did you? All his power is mine now! I am every bit as strong as he was! You're no match for me, even with your vaunted power boost."

"Bastard!" she screamed. "Murdering Bastard! You'll never get away with this!"

She gasped as he squeezed her wrist a little tighter. "Speaking of that power boost. I think its time I took it back." Her glow fired up with no commands from her, and the green energy started to flow into the murderer. She was starting to feel sick and light headed. It felt like he was draining out her soul. She collapsed onto her knees after he released her wrist, Drakken hurriedly went to her side placing her hands on her shoulders.

"Shego? Are you alright?"

Sephiroth smiled as he clenched and unclenched his fists again. "Ah it feels good to be me again." He looked down at the worried Drakken and his sidekick who looked like she'd just been clocked by an anvil. "I must say, Doctor, you did an excellent job on this body."

For once he was completely disinterested in praise for his work. He looked at him coldly. "What are you going to do to us?"

He smiled that blood freezing smile. "Well my initial plan was to kill you when I got what I wanted. But you have done such a wonderful job, I don't think I will. At least not yet."

Drakken's frown deepened. "What does that mean?"

"I'm planning to kill the world, my good doctor. Everyone and everything. Their spirits will further enrich this planet's energy before I absorb it into myself. And I've decided as a thank you for all your fine work, I'm going to kill you two last. You can watch helplessly as the planet dies around you.

He gave the tall man a frightened look, as he watched him turn back to where his new clothes were hanging on the wall. With a wave of his hand the clothes evaporated into black smoke, which floated down and gathered around his feet. The smoke swirled around him, up from his feet to his neck, and reconstituted itself into clothes on his body. In moments he was wearing a black vest under a long backed coat with white shoulder guards, and a heavy pair of black boots along with the baggy black pants he'd been wearing all along. Now fully clothed he headed for the exit to the cave lair.

"Now if the two of you will kindly excuse me, I have appointment at the northern crater. There are some people there I simply must kill."

"Hey, Sephiroth!"

He stopped and turned to look at the green hued woman who had called out. She was still kneeling on the floor and still looked dizzy. Despite this though, she still managed to have a confident look on her face as she glared at him.

"When Kimmie finds out what you did to her friend... There's no doubt in my mind, that she's gonna kill you."

Sephiroth smirked the turned and continued on his way out of the cave. "Hmph! You're just as deluded as he was." As he left, he dragged the tip of his sword along the top of the only exit causing it to collapse behind him, and trapping the duo inside.

Drakken frowned deeply. "Now what are we going to do?"

She looked at her boss with a serious look. "I don't know about you, Dr D, but I'm gonna be hoping like crazy that Kim Possible really can do anything."

XXXXX

Kim and a few of her comrades were on the deck of Cid's airship, which he had dubbed The Shera after his wife. Kim, Yori and Tifa were all standing there while poor Yuffie had her head hung over the edge of the railing with her usual case of air sickness.

"Flying," she moaned. "Why does it always have to be flying?"

Kim looked apologetically towards the ninja, but Tifa just smiled. Yori though had been unusually silent for a long while.

"We have to fly, Yuffie, because the submarine is in the shop," Tifa said, matter of factly.

Yuffie moaned miserably. "Oh please don't mention subs! The only thing worse than flying is... Just thinking about it is enough to... Ugh! Urk!" She was cut off by her retching and placed her hand over her mouth.

Tifa giggled under her breath. Even she had to admit, that sometimes being mean could be fun.

The door from inside the ship opened and Cloud stepped out with some bottles of water. He handed one to Kim and then walked up behind Yuffie, and offered it to her back. "Yuffie. Water."

She groaned incoherently then reached up behind herself and accepted the bottle without moving her head from where it was hanging over the railing. She held the bottle but made no move to open it.

Kim and Cloud both opened thier bottles and took a sip. Then at the exact same moment thier eyes went wide and they both dropped thier bottle, spilling water all over the deck. Both gasped and clutched thier chests as if thier hearts had just stopped.

The General and his protege looked at each other. "You felt that too?" Cloud asked.

Kim nodded mutely.

Tifa looked at the pair worriedly. "What is it?"

"Something's wrong," Kim whispered, and Cloud nodded in agreement.

"What?" Tifa pressed.

"I don't know... But..." he glanced at Kim before continuing. "Sephiroth told me I'd know when it was time. I think this is it." Kim nodded.

His expression hardened as he went into full on authoritive General mode. "Yuffie!"

"BLERRRGGGHHH!"

The full on authoritive General actually cringed as Yuffie stopped holding back and started throwing up. He'd forgotten about her sickness for a second.

"Okay, maybe not Yuffie." He turned to the other closest availiable ninja. "Yori!"

She stood at attention and spoke for the first time in what seemed like days. "Yes sir?"

"Get to the bridge ASAP and tell Captain Cid to set a course for the northern crater. Top speed!"

"Yes sir!" She saluted and ran off through the door Cloud had arrived through.

"Nooooo," Yuffie groaned miserably. "Please not faster! Anything but-urk!"

He looked apologetically at the girl. "Sorry, Yuffie. Have to."

She slumped and sighed. "S'Ok. If it means helping a friend, a little air-urk... sickess is the least I'm willing to go through... Lets go save Ron!" She stood up straight and threw her arms up in the air and started shouting. "You hear that, Ron, old buddy old pal? This air sickness I'm going through now is all for you!" Then she lurched over the railing again. "BLERRRRGGGHHH!"

Kim and Cloud both cringed. "You know," she mused. "As disgusting as that was, I still think Ron really would've appreciated the sentiment."

Cloud just nodded.

XXXXX

They all arrived at the crater within the hour. The airship landed and everyone disembarked, all ready for a fight. Except for Yuffie who was going through her after landing ritual of hugging the ground like a long lost best friend. Everyone from the last battle with Ron was there for the fight. Except for Josh, who was still in traction. Apparently idiot SOLDIER agents who didn't know how to follow orders weren't worth an expensive shot of healing nanites. Though his absence was more than made up for by the presence of the Turks.

After about an hour of waiting though, with little more to do than to look at the pretty materia crystal formations and massive mako fountain, some of the more impatient ones in the group started to get restless.

"Are you sure he's coming?" Reno asked restlessly. "I'm getting bored here."

Cloud frowned at the red haired man. "He's coming. I can feel it in my gut."

"Well soooo-ry, if I doubt the precognative abilities of your stomach noises! OW!"

Cloud was about to retort but stopped when someone kicked Reno in the shin. The self proclaimed 'playboy of the Turks' turned to the person that kicked him and growled. "Bonnie? Dammit, woman, what is with you and kicking me?"

"You need to watch your mouth, Reno," she said, calmly. "Where all on the clock, and the General outranks you. You're making the Turk's look bad."

His face turned almost as red as his hair in anger. "Where does a newbie like you get off telling me..."

"She's right, Reno," the leader Tseng cut him off. "Watch yourself. Save the smart alec remarks for when you're off duty."

Reno frowned, put his hands in his pockets and turned away grumbling under his breath.

Cloud and Kim looked curiously at Bonnie. Neither of them were particularly fond of Bonnie, especially after what she did to Ron a Junon Harbor. But they both couldn't help but admire her professionalism. How she put her personal feelings aside when she was on the job.

Forgetting that for now though, Kim walked up and whispered to her mentor. "Reno does have a point. I thought for sure he'd be here by now."

"Me too. It's not like Sephiroth to be late..."

"Oh I'm sorry," a new voice snickered from behind them. "Have I kept you waiting?" Everyone spun around to see the silver haired man who had arrived without any of them noticing.

Everyone drew their various weapons, and Cloud spoke. "Sephiroth. So you got your new body..."

"Indeed. Drakken did a splendid job, don't you think? All of Stoppable's power and none of his conscience."

Kim and Cloud were both confused by this. "Conscience?" Kim asked.

"Oh, you don't think what you faced before was the true darkness do you? Yes, it was bought to the surface, but was still chained. Think about it. There has not been a single fatality. You think it was the darkness rationalizing that weaklings weren't worth killing? That killing you would be no fun? You think the darkness let Shego do all the fighting in Sci-Tech, when he knew she wouldn't kill anyone?"

"That was Ronald. Your Ronald. Chaining up and holding back all that darkness, even while being imprisoned himself." He sighed at that then smiled at them. "It was terribly stifling."

Kim and Cloud both started to look around then glanced at each other before looking wide eyed at thier enemy. "Where is Ron?" Kim hissed.

Sephiroth's cold smile widened and he started to chuckle.

"Answer the question, Sephiroth!" Cloud snapped. "Where the hell is my brother?"

"Oh Cloud, when have you ever known me to share power?"

They just froze and stared as they let what he was saying sink in.

"Naturally in a fair fight we would have been far too evenly matched. A fight between us probably would have had no end. Fortuneately after separating his soul from mine he was tempoarily vulnerable. I never would have killed him, if hadn't done it while he was still unconscious."

Not just Cloud and Kim, but everyone's eyes were wide with shock.

Cloud's fists were clenched so hard his arms were shaking. "You... Killed my brother?"

"Ron..." Kim choked. "Oh God!"

"Yes, I killed him with this very sword," he said holding up his overly long blade. "Drove it right through his heart. Reminds me of how I ended his older sister." He snickered evilly. "Unlike his sister though, he cried and screamed like a little girl."

Both of them were shaking with rage now, and Sephiroth smiled at thier pain. "Oh, if you need some time to cry before we fight, that's fine... I can wait."

They looked at each other again, wearing the same serious expression. "So..." Kim said deceptively calmly. "We're killing him now, right?"

Cloud nodded. "Oh yeah."

Both turned with scowls of pure hatred. Holding thier weapons ready they started charging thier smugly smiling enemy, with a quickly rising battle cry.

"HaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

XXXXX

For the second time in his life he found himself slowly falling through and endless ocean of white. And just like last time he soon landed on the most beautiful bed of flowers he had ever seen. He just stood there staring blankly, and didn't even turn when he felt an extremely warm and reassuring presense come up behind him. Two slender arms wrapped around his chest in a loving hug, the small hands resting over his heart that had just been stabbed.

He stood silently for a while before speaking to the presence. "Hey sis."

His sister sighed, and he felt her rest her chin on his shoulder. "Oh, little brother... What have you done?"

He swallowed hard before speaking again. "I'm actually dead this time, aren't I?"

He felt her nod against his shoulder. "I'm afraid so, Ron. Sephiroth realized something that the darkness did not. That once he was separated from you, the darkness wouldn't be able to maintain control. That made you too much of a threat."

He sighed and looked to his feet. "No one else can stop him, can they."

"No."

"And he's going to kill everyone, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"I just know the first person he's going to want to kill is going to be the only one I really protected from him. I can feel it."

"Kim," she whispered, sadly. "You're probably right."

He placed his large hand on her small delicate ones, then gently pulled them them away and stepped out of her embrace. He finally turned to face her and she was a little surprised by the expression on his face. He was wearing that goofy and endearing smile of his.

"You know what, sis? That just won't do."

He turned away and looked up with his arms outstretched. "Come on power, you're part of me! You're mine, not his! Now show me some love!"

Aeris watched in amazement as her brother started to glow and start to float and rise back up through the endless white ocean of lifestream. Then she smiled with pride. "Go get him, little brother."

XXXXX

"Shego!" Drakken snapped. "Could you come over here and help me dig please?"

She ignored her boss who was trying in vain to dig his way out of the cave in Sepiroth had caused when he left. Approaching the corpse of Ron Stoppable, that still hung limply from the wall, she felt a tear run down her cheek. She couldn't remember the last time she had shed tears. Placing a gentle gloved hand onto his cheek, she lowered it to the side of his throat, in the small hope she might find a pulse. There wasn't of course, Sephiroth had pretty much mutilated the poor guy's heart, so there was not likely to be a pulse without a heart to beat.

She placed her forehead against his shoulder and felt more tears spill down her cheeks. "I..." She hesitated, then let go. "I'm sorry, kid. I mean, I know we were enemies and all, but... You didn't deserve this. You were a good kid... Which of course one of the things I hated about you, but... I'm just... so sorry!" Lifting her head from his shoulder she took one last look at the poor kid's face.

"GAHHHH!" she screamed, falling back onto her butt when she found herself looking into the open mako eyes, and goofy grin on the face of the meant to be dead Ron Stoppable.

"I accept your apology, Shego," he said cheerfully, before ripping his way out of his super strong metal bonds like they were wet tissue paper. He stepped up to the flabbergasted woman, who seemed to be shaking in shock, then bent over and placed his hands on his knees to look Shego in the eye. "Now tell me. In which direction did the silver haired psycho go?"

XXXX

to be continued...

I know I do this every chapter but I must apologize for the lateness of this update. You know, if anyone actually read it, it has been a while. Every time I make excuses, but I promised I was going to finish it, and I will. Actually recent events have made me realize that like a lot of writers I'm a whole lot more depressed than I thought I was. I have taken measures to improve my mental health, and they're working pretty well. For the first time in a long time, I wrote because I wanted to, and not just because I'd promised to finish the story. Please leave a review and I'll update again soon.  



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